Our Planet

Text : Yukari Sato

On 9th of January, Momo the bird flew off to heaven. It had been 16 years and 8 months since we welcomed Momo into our family and till their last breath. The time I was with Momo felt short and long at the same time. Rosy-faced lovebirds (Agapornis roseicollis) are originally a parakeet that lives in the semi-arid region of the Republic of Namibia in southwestern Africa. I felt many times that perhaps I have taken away their freedom and the path they want to live for themselves but I can only hope that each moment that Momo spent with me was a happy moment.

I have heard accounts from many of you how children talked about Momo at home. One parent said, “at home my child makes medicine for Momo at home.“. Another said, “my child put a doll on her shoulder and said ’I am Momo’“. Momo is alive in many of our memories, and for that they were such a happy bird. Thank you so much for pouring so much love and affection.

I could not imagine how children would perceive the death of a small bird they saw everyday. I am going to introduce a few episodes.

R-kun’s Episode

It was the first day of coming into Yamanoko after Momo had passed away. When Rio realized that I did not come in with the bird cage, he said “Wait. Where is Momo?“. When I told him Momo had died, his facial expression froze and there was a silence. He kept on staring at one spot in the air. He asked me with confusion in eyes, “Does that mean they had died? I can’t see them anymore?“.

Through spending time with Momo everyday, I felt what he thought of Momo changed from “Y-san’s thing“ to “my friend“. He said to me, “We had just become friends but I cannot see them anymore“.

Since I was not able to make the opportunity to show Momo after their death to the children, their concept of death was from that of an imagination as opposed to the reality of death.

 

A-kun and K-kun’s Episode

In the evening, A-kun and K-kun, who always come to see Momo, said, “Hey, Momo’s dead? Today, tomorrow and the next day?. Does Momo exist as something they can see even if they are dead? I wonder. Even now, they stop by the office and ask, “Is Momo still dead?“.

The time they spent with Momo at Yamanoko was definitely real, and the existence of Momo is certainly alive in their hearts. Even death is something ambiguous and is floating and spreading somewhere in a soft kind world.

Death of a small bird named Momo is sometimes remembered as one shaped like a cloud but sometimes it is remembered as very ambiguous like a mist in the air. But certainly the bird exists inside of them. Perhaps the lives that we want to cherish even after our own deaths are floating in space like clouds and mist, and it is such a short time we exist as a tangible form.

For me, who tends to think that I want to avoid death, I was able to quietly accept the death of Momo by touching the sensibilities of children living with the line between life and death blurred. Then, through the death of Momo, I experienced the process of life changing its memory and shape and continuing to exist among the children. Unlike the way adults perceive and relate to life, which knows that life is finite, children are living in the present in front of them, and when the life they had just reached is over.  Through the children, Momo can feel alive even if they disappeared from the mortal world.