Random Pips

My house is being attacked by a maniacal robin! During the past couple of weeks, it has bashed its head against every window around the house at least twice. I kept getting interrupted by random bangs and every time I sprint to the scene of the crime, there’s that chubby robin staring cheekily back at me. I swear it’s the same little nutter each time. But there’s nothing I can do about it because it’s so goddamn cute.

Anyway, I discovered why the robin’s been acting so crazy lately: it is looking for a home. And with property prices as sky-high as they are these days, I don’t blame it for going all bonkers. I feel like…well, I feel like bashing my noggin against a window too, actually. Alright, I digress - back to the story.

So like I said, the robin is looking for a home. I guess it wanted to explore the inside of the house for prospective locations and just couldn’t figure out why it is being repelled by some invisible seamless barrier. Perhaps it is a test from the Bird Gods themselves. That’s it - they are testing the strength of its resolve! It shall not fail…it will fly further off, flourish its wings, gather speed, and - BAM! Oh, foiled again! Well, after several repetitions of this feat, you can probably imagine why it would abandon attempting to overcome this trial. It decided to search the exterior of the house instead. That’s when it spotted the lamp bracket.

That’s right…of all the possible spots it could’ve settled in, it chose the most dangerous one. This robin thrives on living Life on the edge. Okay, maybe I should give the poor birdie some slack. I mean, how could it possibly fathom the fact that windows can be painful (oh, was that a pun? Ba-dum-psh!) or that electricity can fry pretty much anything? Nonetheless, I must give props to the robin for its cleverness. ‘Cause besides the minor detail that the lamp bracket is practically vibrating with electrical sparks, it is perfect as perfect can be since it is already conveniently shaped like a vertically stretched-out nest. All it needs to do is to just fill the lamp bracket up with twigs and leaves and all those other cozy nest materials that I know nothing about. And that’s exactly what it did.

Take a look at its ingenuity:

Side view of the “Lamp Bracket Nest”

Top view of the “Lamp Bracket Nest” (yes, you guessed it - that round yellow thing in the middle is the lightbulb”)

Now I am in a moral dilemma. The robin spent so much energy and effort to make that cozy nest, but I know it is an extremely dangerous location for it to call home. The question is: should I deem to know what’s best for the robin and remove its hard work or should I leave it be and pray it doesn’t get electrocuted (as long as no one switches on the lamp)?

I ended up choosing the former over the latter because I could not bear the possibility of the robin getting electrocuted. Yet, I cannot say I am entirely comfortable with that decision. Because how is that different from some nations (especially one, in particular) who think they know what’s best for the world and proceed to police it as they see fit?