“For
all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves
will be exalted.”—Luke 14:11
There he was staring at his reflection in the glass door of
the stripping house, a barn attachment once used for stripping tobacco. But the irony in the picture was that the
peacock had been stripped of his tail feathers…well, he had shed them.
I had seen him in early summer admiring his reflection in
the shine of the car door and had to admit he was stunning, his train of brilliant
tail feathers extending four feet or more. On a different occasion I had watched him
shake his tail feathers and then fan them out in a beautiful array of blues and
greens, turning around like a supermodel at the end of a runway. Scientists say this is the peacock’s mating
strut, designed to attract the peahen. But
I say he was just showing off for me, for there was not a peahen in sight. Hence,
the origin of the saying proud as a peacock?
