Draw A Bird Day 2020

MOCKINGBIRDS ARE FEATURED IN VOLUME3

Today, April the 8th, is an official time to celebrate an unofficial holiday, which dates back to the 1940's and is known as "Draw A Bird Day" and because drawing is not part of my skill set, I honored the day by taking pictures of a Northern mockingbird (one of my photos is posted directly above) who stopped by my garden for a snack.

I've discussed "Draw A Bird Day" in prior entries here on Blogger. As I stated in one of my entries on the subject, "Although it's not a recognized holiday, it's celebrated worldwide on April 8 as a way to find joy in life's simple pleasures and to help people temporarily forget their suffering. According to the Draw A Bird Day website, the holiday dates back to 1943 when a 7-year-old British girl named Dorie Cooper went to visit her uncle who'd been wounded in the war. The man was distraught after losing his leg to a landmine, so in an attempt to distract him, Dorie asked him to draw her a bird. He drew a picture of a robin, and Dorie laughed, saying he wasn’t a very gifted artist but that she’d hang the drawing in her room anyway.

"The young girl's honesty and acceptance lifted the soldier's spirits, and every time Dorie visited after that, he and the other wounded soldiers would have a contest to see who could create the best bird picture. In a matter of months, the ward's walls were covered in bird drawings. Tragically, Dorie was hit by a car three years later and killed. At her funeral, her coffin was filled with bird pictures drawn by soldiers, nurses and doctors from her uncle's hospital. She was remembered as the little girl who brought life and hope to a ward of suffering hospital patients. Since her death, people have been honoring Dorie by drawing birds on her birthday."

MNN goes on to say that "anyone can participate in celebrating Dorie's life by sharing it with someone."

This 2020 day of remembering Dorie, the little girl "who brought life and hope to a ward of suffering hospital patients" is more apropos than ever, given the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

We can honor the girl's memory by bringing hope to anyone affected directly or indirectly by COVID-19 and we can do that in many ways. It doesn't have to be in the form of drawing a bird.

There are countless ways to give someone hope.

On another note, the bird type featured in this entry has a story in the third volume of my three volume book series, Words In Our Beak.

MY THREE VOLUME BOOK SERIES

As I've been saying here on Blogger, "During this time where many people are confined to their homes due to lockdown restrictions these books (whose stories are set in my rooftop garden) are great to have around as a reminder that there is still so much beauty in our fallen world."