The Crow's Caw... and the Owl's Hoot

-        You may see birds in the early morning and hear them chirp.. and you may see other birds during the day soaring alone in the sky or in flocks.. and you may see other birds in the evening.. and others at night... and other birds you see only in one of the four seasons... You may see birds on rainy days... and others on days when snow falls. Others swim in rivers and seas and ponds.. There are birds that begin to gather before dawn... and others that gather in the evening to sleep on the trees until the dawn appears, then they go out.. to search for food or for their other emotional needs.. or to punish other birds.. attacking.. or to flee the hardships of their lives.... You may know the names of some birds. And the same bird may have different names among others..... and you know stories of some of their habits.... You may rejoice when you see the wild pigeon.. quietly searching for a meal of grains to feed itself and to feed its waiting young.. in nests built by the male and female together.... But most of us... when we see the owl... we feel it is an omen of misfortune behind its appearance.... when we hear it hoot at night or in the morning.... Just as when we see the crow... and hear its loud caw... we feel that our day after hearing its caw... will not be good.... These convictions are stored in our memory and we learned them from our society from the home and the family and the school that the crow and the owl are omens of misfortune.. so we must read the heavenly books.. and perform tasbihs in order to drive away the devils that follow the appearance of such birds.. It is a habit and inherited concepts... we do not know the details of the lives of such birds .. ...nor how they live.. The important thing is that we carried a bad and pessimistic idea about the existence of this bird. And we classified it in our tweets..!!! among the terrorist birds.!!!.. Yet other peoples in other parts of this world... see in them birds of optimism and intelligence and goodness and glad tidings.

- One day... I went to Chile in Latin America... to a banking workshop... with some good colleagues of mine... and I visited the strong Palestinian community there and their famous club in the middle of Santiago... I visited their many shops across Santiago the capital... the capital of Chile... the beautiful one... and we talked with them about the country and about their customs; they are counted among the strongest Palestinian communities in the Palestinian diaspora, as their number ranges between 300,000 and 350,000 people.. and they are influential and owners of banks and principal businesses in that country. I asked them about their longing for their original country Palestine... and they all agreed that they have the wild desire to return... and some of them to visit... noting that their subsequent generations, the children and grandchildren, are driven by an even stronger desire to return to the homeland of their ancestors... I did not ask them at that time whether they are registered on the lists of Palestinian refugees... or not... and whether they would be counted among the Palestinians who will return one day... however long it takes... and despite all the classifications and liquidations of the cause... because in those days there was no news about the Deal of the Century... we were in another century...!!! Later, when we were about to bid them farewell... the conversation turned to what symbolic souvenir gifts we could bring from that distant country at the ends of the earth when we returned to the country where we live... everyone agreed on the necessity of taking metal figurines in the shapes of owls... in bright colors... We were surprised and said, “Good heavens... how do you view the owl here in this country?” They said, “We have come to love the owl here after we found the country’s original inhabitants love it and feel happiness and delight at seeing it... and they buy it for their homes and hang several forms and figurines of the owl in beautiful colors and sizes that bring joy... to the souls.” And so we carried with us on our return metal owl figurines from the diaspora... after we stayed there for 10 days in the expanses of Santiago... it was beautiful. When I arrived at the village in the country... and we took out our souvenir gifts... and I was proud of the shiny metal owl figurine shapes... my mother — may God have mercy on her — was touched by a kind of coolness toward them... and something like gloom appeared on her face!! When I handed her an ornate gift bag containing an owl figurine and she opened the bag... she said, “My son, didn’t you come to bring anything but these wretched crows?!!” I said to her, “Mother, our people there in that country advised us... their view has changed, Mother!!” She refused and said, “Take that owl away from me... don’t varnish them for me....” I said to myself... the argument and her generation are difficult to convince... we always try simply to persuade them that the world has changed... and that ideas and impressions have changed. And she would reply, may God have mercy on her, “You won’t convince me. Enough.!!”

-        From what I know from what has been written about the owl.. it is a bird that is primarily active at night, it has a strong sense of hearing..... its large eyes provide it with night vision.... and since it is active at night silently, some peoples consider the owl a symbol of intelligence and welcome it as good news.... and some of them view it as an omen of misfortune and a representation of witchcraft and darkness.... The owl is carnivorous... and an owl can swim... its neck consists of 14 vertebrae.. and therefore it can rotate its neck by an angle of 270 degrees.. An owl cannot hunt or fly on rainy days because its feathers lack the oily layer... that protects other birds.. Owls do not build their nests themselves, but use nests left by other birds... The owl is considered one of the most talkative birds.!!! Where it seizes the opportunity of any other owl's presence beside it.. it will not be silent until the early morning.. It can eat among other things.. about 35 kg of field mice from the fields.. annually and therefore.. this queen.. helps farmers combat field mice.. so this is a ray of hope that the owl can do good... even if indirectly!

-        As for the second bird which is considered an indicator of misfortune in our concepts... it is the crow... it is a symbol of pessimism for many people or most of them.. and its voice is loud.. The crow has a great ability to recognize human faces, and can distinguish good people from bad people.. and this is a good trait..., it can count up to the number 9... and therefore it is educated to some extent.. The young crows at the beginning of hatching are covered in white feathers.. then they turn black over time..... Crows live in flocks. They have their own system and courts.. and rituals in commitment and adherence to the opinion of the group...... and they maintain marital life in a striking way, (familial).. as a crow does not allow any strange male to approach its female. -conservative-.. and likewise the female. The male crow reaches maturity at the age of four years while the female reaches maturity at the age of three years...

-        And despite the classification, the owl is considered one of the crow's fiercest enemies... and it seems that the crow has a grudge against the owl.. as owls attack the nests and young of crows... and prey on what is inside them in the darkness of night... The owl is disorderly.. and is classified as a terrorist..!! As for the crow, in our usage it is called "Ghurab al-Bayn"..... it brings woe and division... and sectarianism... it recognizes people by their faces.. as we indicated above.!!
Thus concepts and convictions differ.. there is one opinion and there is the other opinion....... Nevertheless, an individual must have personal convictions of his own.. specific to him.. that carry logic and credibility... and are subject to change with time... apart from general inherited convictions.. which may contain within them signs of good while in reality they are widespread evil. And the opposite is true... However, you should know that there is an opinion in the arena.. that may contradict your opinion.... so the world should not end.... nor should it stand still.. such is life... give and take.. or as was said in another narrative... "Life is negotiations." .. But in the end... and with respect to the factor of time..., the homeland cannot endure.. burying heads in the sand.. under convictions.. coordinates of the goals of bygone days where we found them as such!!... which have changed these days to other alternative coordinates.! And God is, behind the intent