What's in a Name

tastefullyoffensive:

(via dog_rates)

(Source: benchandcompass)

queencalrissian:

what true friendship looks like

orlansky:

The pigeons in this city, they’re kind of like some people here. They don’t exactly have the best reputation. They get kicked, looked down on, most have to fight to survive. Most wouldn’t be too sad if they woke up one day and found them all gone.

I saw a man in the park the other day. His sleeves were ripped, his hair was long. He had life all over his face and some might think he’d seen better days. Most gave him a sideways look and moved on. He was surrounded by birds of every size, like something out of a Disney movie. The birds tend not to trust people around here, but they were all around him, on him, perched on his shoulders, sitting on his head, kissing his face. By god, I never thought I’d see a New York City pigeon show a person love. And his face lit up, like they understood him. He touched them, hugged them, spoke to them, his face changing from ear-splitting smiles to heartbreaking sadness. He said his name is Larry the Bird Man.

I was editing these photos and trying to find some music that somehow fit this moment I was having. Something heard me, I think, because this song came on. I’d never heard it before. I played it about forty times in a row while looking at him. Give it a listen while looking at his face and tell me you don’t feel it too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0IfIRq3-N8

As if that wasn’t enough, I had a feeling there was something else, something about him that I was missing, so I did a Google. Here are his words:

“I went to prison for twenty years because two guys broke into my house and murdered my wife and kid on December 20, 1986. I caught them in my house and handcuffed them to my front yard, worked them over with a blackjack, and worked them from their ankles to their neck. And then I chopped their heads off with a steak knife… I’m not violent anymore… The birds help keep me normal…”

Like the song says, “Maybe someday I’ll fly with you.”