the hummingbird & the forest fire

[b2c2552]

sometimes the best you can is not good enough, what you really need then, is a plan, and then a backup plan.

[donHooligan]

god i love this video.

[donHooligan]

bet that hummingbirds wings sure got tired.

[jaysteinbourg]

The humming bird could have done better. He could have found an empty plastic bag, dunked it in the water using his beak and then put out more fire flying over and emptying out with that. Just saying.

[pennilesscripple]

heh

cute

it's an old story from back in the glorious days before plastic bags

[jaysteinbourg]

Then replace plastic bag with skulltop from a small decayed animal, which when held upside down can be used to carry small quantities of water.

[pennilesscripple]

ha

he sure could have used your help!

[ecstatica23]

hey jay, I have a better one for you, what if this hummingbird got together with his like minded hummingbird friends? wouldn't that have been better than finding something to use so he can carry more water in? the work of 1000 hummingbirds doing the best they can do would be much more effective than one bird with a scoop, right?

[ecstatica23]

truly though, you don't expect a hummingbird to be that crafty do you? the hummingbird was doing all the it could do, considering it's intelligence and abilities... good thing we are not hummingbirds thought, right?

[jaysteinbourg]

yeah, were dumber. We are going to burn the planet up in another 20 years.

1000 hummingbirds, I like that!

[ecstatica23]

nah, if we burn the planet up in another 20 years it's not because the human species is dumb. We just have to find our hummingbird friends and unite. unity is key.

[ozjthomas]

Man, that almost made me tear up. Hummingbirds get all the best stories. Thanks, Penny.

[fckuvrymch]

thank you PC.

i needed this today.

pe@ce and love to you.

namaste

[runnygrits]

"I am only one; but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; I will not refuse to do the something I can do."

Helen Keller

[pennilesscripple]

thank you for that grits

i just saw it again and i really needed to hear that today

[runnygrits]

Your are very welcome. That quote brings me out of self pity and apathy immediately.

[RonPaulMall]

5*s

[givebirthathome]

Take out the government people, and the Nobel peace winners rock! Great clip--perfect analogy for what we have to do.

[mistaspot1]

Added: October 20, 2007?

WTF? That can't be right. I swear this was posted like just a few months ago... o_O

[pennilesscripple]

youtube time is weird

funny i was just thinking of this story a minute ago....

[RALthaDon]

Brilliant.

[bbbleaver]

i think there is more than one hummingbird putting the fire out.

great video.

we need more stories & more story tellers.

[pennilesscripple]

yes stories stories stories

i agree

that's what works

[ItsFilthy]

I love this story, and this vid so much, I just had to watch again.

[ReliableInsider]

Sometimes the key is getting the mathematicians to do an accurate calculation of the amount of water it would take to turn the tide.

An accurate model that allows you to make accurate predictions is a beautiful thing.

[pennilesscripple]

funny...

that's *exactly* what the giraffe said....

[Seedr0]

Damn those crafty giraffes...

[Weatherhill1]

As most of your posts -

It should be featured.

Faved instead on behalf of all "hummingbirds".

[pennilesscripple]

aw thanks weatherhill

that means a lot to me

[pennilesscripple]

yeah and without being slowed, stopped, or silenced by the ridicule

[cloudmonkeys]

i think some of the inactive animals are grieving for their loss and then maybe grieving for the time they've spent grieving for their loss instead of helping put out the fire and then feeling guilty about not having helped put out the fire and then...

Loved the video

[pennilesscripple]

aw monkeys that is so true

there is so much grieving

seems we have to be wounded warriors

with rage born of grief born of love

[pennilesscripple]

yeah lapis i read somewhere (dunno if it's true) that the male mosquito, who doesn't bite, is the one who whines, while the female, who does bite, is silent. so if your bedroom is completely quiet, then....

[adriansalamandre]

it's not true: both sexes whine!

[pennilesscripple]

ha thanks for the info adrian

i reckoned it was an urban myth

(a salamander would certainly know about mosquitoes)

[LiberalViewer]

I would have given this video 5 stars, but I added it to my favorites at least. I heard this story on NPR last week and I was impressed w/Wangari Maathai. She's quite a hummingbird.

Thx 4 the video :-)

[pennilesscripple]

yeah i heard it too, on 'speaking of faith'

i love wangari maathai and her work--she's a real hero to me

that's what spurred me to make the video

thanks lv

your comment means more than any stars ever could :)

[dontheman17]

It doesn't matter what work we do as long as we do something. Life is a one day at a time venture. We need to relize there is no more then that to the equation.

[superfrodies]

i would give it 5 big stars. thanks for reminding me.

[pennilesscripple]

thanks sf that means a lot to me :)

[HeadlessFatLady]

This was a great response video!

[pennilesscripple]

thanks headless :)

[pennilesscripple]

yeah the american middle class is the elephant...

[HeadlessFatLady]

It is so hard getting anyone to speak for anything isnt it? Unless you live in a huge community and you have connections ugh! I have to do more research before I go slamming with signs on a corner hehe But this video is very inspiring!!!!

[Kedoke]

YES - true on so many levels.

[eligarf]

thanks for posting this!

[eligarf]

mystical is right!

[pennilesscripple]

actually the next one that's in the planning stages, if it ever gets off the ground, has dario in it, so i'm sure that will be my 'best' too :^)

[pennilesscripple]

it would help if the elephants would stop playing their absurd games ;^)

[pennilesscripple]

you said my *last* one was my best one... :p

[SohoSquare]

I've favourited this because I like the sentiment. Leading by example. I hope the elephants caught on before the forest burned down. Let's see how it goes with our forest fire.

[pennilesscripple]

someone once said that help always comes from the place where you least expect it. from what i've seen of life, i'm not going to count on the elephants....

[DEATHINKING]

the greatest, most important story ever told

[pennilesscripple]

spoken like a true hummingbird....

[Rockstarsean]

Brilliant story, thanks for sharing it

[1mcsource]

amazing storytelling. thx4sharing -maxwell

[pennilesscripple]

keep on fetching your drops of water maxwell

and don't listen to those idiot elephants

[JesGuy]

very cool. thanks.

[kewpiesbadhairday]

beautiful post. I was really feeling cynical and even to abandonment of hope for our species.....sometimes the greedy powermongers seem like they will take the heaviest of tolls on us all...and theres nothing we can do....lets remember this hummingbird

[pennilesscripple]

i sure can relate to that feeling kewpie

happy to be able to deliver a little medicine

[mistaspot1]

Tears

[pennilesscripple]

aw mista you are the stuff you know that?

[mistaspot1]

This is so poignant. My god. Thank you PC.

[pennilesscripple]

thanks go to wangari maathai

check her out

a true hero

[zzz33333]

this is my favorite video on youtube. tied with joelovesyou's "time for love."

[pennilesscripple]

have you ever heard hummingbirds fly?

they sound like big bees...zzz....

[mistaspot1]

Whoooaaaa.. hehehe