A bird in hand is not free…it’s a slave
Growing up, I learned in school a bit of European literature, including poetry, famous quotes, stage plays, some European philosophy, and various other ideas drawn from foreign theories. I feel we studied Europe in greater depth than we did Africa. And I’ll tell you honestly, I believe that was intentional. We read Shakespeare, wrote exams based on his works, and then our intelligence was measured not by how much we understood or applied our own African philosophies, but by how fully we absorbed Shakespearean thought and could reproduce it on demand. In other words, you might have been African in appearance, but European in your mind.
One of the sayings we memorized as kids was: “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.” While I grasped its meaning in the context of European philosophy, I now think it’s a flawed notion to suggest that a single bird in your hand holds more value than two free birds in the bush.
On a basic level, the proverb implies that what you already possess—no matter how modest—is preferable to something you might obtain later. Motivational speakers often invoke it to illustrate the virtue of contentment. And I understand why: at the time, it sounded wise. But now that I have grown, and as an African who likes to think in 3D (physical dimension, mental dimension, and spiritual dimension), and as someone who reads words alongside the images they evoke, I see that “a bird in the hand” really symbolizes slavery and subjugation. A bird in your hand is not free; it’s enslaved, controlled by the hand that holds it. In fact, birds belong in the sky, in trees, and in forests—not trapped in anyone’s palm.
Even if the bird isn’t confined to a cage, the hand feeding it effectively becomes its cage. As long as it fails to do what birds were created to do—fly—it remains a slave. It serves only its captor and benefits no one else.
Moreover, a bird in hand cannot reproduce on its own. It is solitary and contributes nothing to community growth. By contrast, two birds in the bush are unshackled. They are emancipated, not under the thumb of someone who confines them for amusement. Two birds in the forest are free to reproduce and expand their flock. They can fly from tree to tree, wander through different parts of the woods, and migrate across regions without seeking permission. They are free to be birds and to fulfill their purpose.
But what does this mean?
Since this issue of the magazine is about seeing from a new perspective, let me say this:
It simply means that we, as Africans, must go back to relearning our communal way of living and prospering together. We must forsake the foreign philosophy of “kill or be killed” or the so-called survival of the fittest. That’s the mindset of a slave.
In Africa, we don’t kill the weak and broken, we heal them so they can stand on their own and be part of the community. In Africa, we don’t put elders in care homes, so they become a bird behind a concrete wall while letting their body and brain power gradually die off. No. We put them in the family house where children run and play around them. It becomes where they tell stories of their journey of life to the children, and through that interaction, the children will learn what they cannot learn in school from their elderly granny, and the grannies themselves will be able to relive their younger days through the interaction with the children.
You cannot be the bird in hand who thinks that because you eat worms and corn from the hand of your benefactor, you are better than the two birds in the wild. You are not. For the hand that feeds you today might feed on you tomorrow when you stop supplying the entertainment you were captured to do. And we have seen this happen to puppet leaders in Africa. They stood for nothing for their people, and they ended up in their lonely graves of shame and spite.
The lesson
A person who wants to live in harmony with himself, the people and the environment around him must first of all be free in his mind about himself. But this freedom of the mind is not a state of irresponsibility to the community or lack of sensitivity to things or people around. It’s quite the opposite. A truly free person sees the harmony and interconnection between their decisions, choices, actions, words, deeds, character, attitudes and the overall wellbeing of the community at large.
Unlike the bird that wants to cozy up in the hands of a benefactor at the expense of the community, a truly free person does not think of himself outside of the liberty of the community nor do they seek their own good alone but the good of everyone.
The world is surprised at the way Africans across the globe are trooping in support of Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso for putting community ahead of self. Some even call it a trend that will die away soon. Be as it may, humans are not fools who are unable to know when a person carries in themselves the freedom and liberty that makes them walk away from the hands of foreign benefactors. Traore is human and he will make mistakes that the West will want to capitalize on, but Africans must learn to see the real from the fake. The mistake of a youth can be corrected by the elders, but who will correct the betrayal of the elders? Think about it.
There is more to life than the selfish gathering of things for self. Things that we often don’t need in the long run.
Over the years, I have learned that whatever I have not used for six months in a row may just be what I don’t need in the first place. It should be given out to someone else who may need it. Outside of training your mind to thrive with less, you will also be helping yourself de-clutter your life by living without the weight that too many things that we have gathered in life put on us.
Something to think about.
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