Abstract
I shared a short story with a group of people the other day and as I finished I thought it would be very appropriate for my President's message to AFA. It goes like this ...
Once there was a mouse that lived in a farmer's wife's kitchen. One day, noticing the mouse scurrying about, the farmer's wife set a mouse trap. This mouse trap concerned the mouse greatly so he
thought he would take his problem to his friends in the barnyard for a solution. The chicken was first and explained to the mouse that she could not understand how any of this trap business could even remotely affect her and she would not help.
The mouse than went to the pig explaining as he did to the chicken but with more urgency. The pig responded that the trap was located in the house and he never went into the house so how could this have anything to do with him.
So the mouse went to the cow with his dilemma explaining again but now with more emotion and impassionate. The cow responded very thoughtfully, explaining to the mouse that she provided a service for the farmer's wife in the form of milk for the kitchen cooking. And, anything she might do would be futile in the first place but most definitely could be misconstrued to be a conflict of interest, and that was just not socially acceptable in her corral.
So the mouse went back into the house and sat and stared at the trap. In the middle of the night a loud SNAP woke the farmer's wife and she rushed down to the kitchen to see her success. But in the dark she failed to notice the deadly poisonous snake that had caught its tail in the trap and as she came around the corner the snake bit her right on her leg!
This caused the farmer's wife to become very ill with a fever and we all know what helps a fever ... chicken soup! So off came the chicken's head and into a pot she went. The farmer's wife failed to get better and her being ill brought many friends and family to the house to attend to her. Well, the farmer felt the need to provide food for all the humanitarian helpers. So he killed the pig to provide hams, pork chops, bacon and head cheese for all.
The farmer's wife continued to remain very ill from the venom in her leg and she eventually died. More family and friends came from all parts of the area to console the farmer and to celebrate the good wife's life of selfless caring and giving to others. With such a large crowd and celebrating what a good woman his wife had been, the farmer decided to be able to feed everyone, they needed a barbecue, and so the cow was slaughtered and roasted on a spit, resulting in the best barbecue wake that county had ever seen. And the little mouse just sat and stared at all the goings on in constant total amazement.
Neither can we ever know the ripples resulting from our actions nor how far they will reach.
Just lately I was reading in a magazine about the Defenders of Wildlife organization spending more than $5.5 million in the past two election cycles, focusing on their political agenda. Then the article wrote they raised more than
$1 million in a short-running graphic national television advertisement showing Ashley Judd denouncing the treatment of wolves.
What is wrong with this picture? Wolves are fine (if they are not eating me), but birds are better! The American Federation of Aviculture is the defender of the privileges
to keep and care for birds. We need to stop bickering and pointing fingers at each other like school kids. I have never seen any dirty laundry publicly displayed by the Defenders of Wildlife, but they sure enjoy seeing us display ours while they conduct successful fundraising campaigns!
It is time for the American Federation of Aviculture to step up! We need to take our good name and more than three and a half decades of history and experience to a new level. Many of you have already anticipated this Call to Arms and have been actively participating, volunteering your time and making donations to the American Federation of Aviculture.
We need all of you now! YOU are the body of the American Federation of Aviculture,please help. We have always been there and we will always be there, looking out for you. Support the American Federation of Aviculture financially. Don't be just another barnyard animal.