The SIA Brat Comic Strip: The Brave Sparrow of Piazza San Marco

The SIA Brat – In Venice, Italy

[Piazza San Marco]

I love Venice! Sadly, we only stopped for a day in Venice while touring Italy. In 2011, my mum and I visited Barcelona and much of Italy as part of our European escapade. And I fell in love with the city of Venice the minute I caught a glimpse of it from the speedboat bringing us there.

It was raining but even that didn’t make Venice any less beautiful. In fact, because the rain went away shortly after we arrived, I got to see the planks come out without having to waddle too much in the flooded streets of Venice.

Anyway, I’ll share more about my Venice trip another time. Right now let’s focus on Ailsa’s Travel Theme Challenge for this week – Birds. When I discovered the theme for the week was going to be ‘Birds’, I immediately thought of a brave little sparrow in Venice’s Piazza San Marco. Why was he brave? Well, take a look at the comic and you’ll see why…

A little boy threw a piece of bread onto the floor for the birds and created a flurry of bird activity in the Piazza. Among a sea of excited pigeons, I noticed a little sparrow hopping in on the action as well. And his fighting spirit and bravery blew me away.

You see, as I was frantically snapping away, this courageous little sparrow was relentless in trying to get a piece of the bread, despite the fierce competition he faced. Those pigeons were nasty! This comic only shows half the story. The other photos were too blurry as they were really going at it. But the brave little pigeon didn’t quit trying!

Survival of the fittest comes to mind when I see this little sparrow. And his ‘never say die’ attitude is something that I truly admire.

Seeing as today is the last day of the year, perhaps we can all learn a little something from him:

If you never try, you never know. At least he did manage to get a peck at the bread. Maybe that helped him survive another winter in the streets of Venice? Whether that’s true or not, this much is a fact. If he sat on the sidelines and didn’t even attempt to have a piece of the bread, he wouldn’t have even gotten a bite out of it at all.

Size doesn’t matter. He definitely demonstrates that size doesn’t matter. Rather, if you give it your best shot, despite the obstacles in your way, you will at least have done your best. Or in his case, at least he’ll be able to live another day.

Live like there’s no tomorrow. Maybe it was bravery. Maybe it was reckless stupidity. Maybe it was animal instinct. Or maybe he was just really hungry. Either way, he really went at it like there was no tomorrow.