If a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush...

Hi folks,

The old saying: 'A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush' always used to make me wonder....

Why would anyone want a bird in his/her hand...it will likely only squawk and possibly crap on you. At least if they are in the bushes, you can watch them and hear them sing.

Today, the baji (our all-purposes auntie) at our office brought four small birds. This is only the second time in my life I have been gifted a bird. The first was on Deborah's birthday years ago in Ghana, when our watchman brought an African Gray parrot.

Anyway, I am supposed to have two of these birds, and another colleague the other two. I don't know what kind of birds they are, or how she got them, or really what she expects me to do with them....Certainly not eat them, as they are too small to be worth the preparation time.

So, now I have two birds in the proverbial hand (actually a cardboard box, for now), and I have to get a cage and make sure they get food and water....

The calculus here is a bit confusing. If a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, is that merely doubling, or is there some kind of derivative involved, or maybe some kind of exponent? No, one raised to any power can only be one. But two can do all sorts of cool things.

I'll just buy the cage and let them figure out the math.

Love and Peace to all!