The Sensitive
I have to back track a bit and tell everyone that some of my ideas can be a little unconventional at times. Especially my theories about how birds communicate. At this point I think I am going to have to hold back a bit on some of them. I won't be able to test any of them until Betty has a mate. I have to see how and if she teaches him to talk, like Victor did with her. At this point I think I'll start concentrating more on what is happening with Betty and how she progresses in her speaking abilities.
The more Betty talks the more I'm learning about how and what she thinks. Her thoughts seem to echo many of the same feelings that I went through in losing Victor. The last file, which I called "With New People" was my most favourite one. It helped me to deal with it better as Betty said he is alive now and with new people. I would like to tell you that this statement was totally from her thoughts and our family did not say anything like that to her. Even if she is only saying it to make herself feel better, it somehow had an air of truth in it for all of us.
I'm also little bit surprised that Betty's site isn't getting more attention, but then I remembered back on how hard it was to convince everyone that Victor was talking in context. Victor's speaking abilities were much more superior to Betty's and even then many were having trouble understanding them. Betty is so much younger and still developing hers. Many people might also think that having two birds to speak using context in a row, is only my imagination getting the better of me. If it wasn't for the recordings, I would probably even have those doubts myself.
Now let's get to the core of this weeks article, sensitivity, as it plays a major roll in whether a budgie decides to talk and communicate with us. What I know for sure is there is this constant battle going on in their mind about talking. By nature, they don't want to or even believe that it is right to talk to people. As time goes by, they realize that communication is a very important part of their being and they need it. If they try to communicate and can't get through they can withdraw into their own world and never really allow themselves to strive for that link. They are also very sensitive and want us to understand them too. There also has to be something in it for them. In one of Betty recordings she said that she would please me and in return I should try and please her. In other words like humans, they don't believe in one-sided relationships. I was fortunate to get a budgie like Betty though. She has a naturally caring and friendly character. She came from a batch of about four other budgies who had the same markings as her, so she came from a family. I remember Victor told me that she came from a place where budgies talked a lot and he was going to teach her how to talk like people. It wasn't an easy job for Victor to convince her to be willing to talk either. I have several recordings of him talking about the arguments they had about talking when she first came. Once she finally made that critical change in attitude, she learned context very quickly.
So if budgies are very sensitive, what are they sensitive to? One thing for sure is they do not like to be left in the house by themselves. Betty gets quite upset with me when I leave her alone for several hours at a time. Sometimes she will hold a grudge for a day or two. In one of the files called "Let Betty Talk" she tells me I let her down by leaving her alone. Another thing is, like us, she can experience guilt and try to make others feel guilty too. I believe she went through a phase with Victor and felt that it was somehow her fault that Victor died. In the file called "He Loved You More" she talks a little about the type of relationship she had with Victor."
A budgie is normally very good at hiding it's feelings physically and that is why most people don't believe that they are cognizant. You ask it a question, and even though it might understand you, it won't answer. It doesn't react much to anything you say, so most people believe they don't understand. Well I've learned through experience that is a very incorrect assumption. Both Betty and Victor hardly showed signs of cognition at all. About 99% of the time they don't react much to what I say, but that other 1% really makes the difference and proves they know exactly what I am talking about. Like Victor said in one of his files, "There has to be a "purpose stored" for him to react to certain things.
This week I recorded quite a few very good files. Some were easier to understand than others, but there were many statements to show how Betty feels and experiences emotions in the same way as we do. I am going to list the most important statements of the batch and then you can listen to the files and hear them.
1. Tell God you're not ready to die.
2. You'll hate me.
3. Honour the people that you've got.
4. I want people to like me.
5. Why did you die and Betty not?
6. Ryan said that you not love Betty. Don't believe him.
7. Ryan tell the people that I don't talk good.
8. Tell the world that you let me down.
9. You've got to work on that Betty. Speak up like Victor.
10. I bet you also can talk to Victor.
11. You can't hear what Betty hear.
12. Talk, people need to hear Betty.
13. You're not matter.
14. You know I stop tap to love you.
15. Did you meet God yet? I did.
16. Betty don't talk like that to the people.
17. He went well. He got new people.
As you can see there are some very incredible statements coming from Betty here. Many are exactly the same type of thoughts and abandonment feelings that we would go through in a similar loss of a loved one. I believe this to be another first in the actual documentation of how animals can feel in a situation like this. How can we not see that these creatures deserve the same understanding, love and care that you would give to people? Maybe I'm watching Star Trek too much, but if we discovered life on another planet and they were sentient, we would try and treat them with respect and in the same fashion that we would like to be treated. The question is why can't some people believe that creatures from our own planet should deserve the same compassion?
