Pouring over old books some years ago, I happened across my 1965 Boy Scout manual. I never got particularly far in the scouts, but reading the manual, apart from learning a bit about scouting, is a window into the attitudes prevalent in America at that time. Skimming the section on Scout Law, I reviewed the 12 points – A scout is: Trustworthy, Loyal, Helpful, Friendly, Courteous, Kind, Obedient, Cheerful, Thrifty, Brave, Clean, Reverent.

I found the exposition on being CLEAN, particularly fun to read. Here, we are told what this means to a scout: “He keeps clean in body and thought; stands for clean speech, clean sport, clean habits; and travels with a clean crowd.” A boy is shown in the shower. However, we are warned that there are different kinds of dirt. Most can be removed easily with soap and water. However, one type is much more difficult to rid oneself of: the dirt that gets in your mind. The two sides of this admonition are no better vocalized than by Pigeon Paul, a habitué of Washington Square Park.

For those not accustomed to city life, Pigeon Paul will come as a quite a novelty. New Yorkers, however, intimately familiar with these urban denizens, will find his behavior either charming or revolting, depending on whether one loves pigeons or, as many have characterized them, find them to be “rats with wings.”

Paul, a Lebanese man who grew up in the Bronx, can regularly be found in the same spot on one of Washington Square Park’s walkways. There, sitting on a park bench, Paul is literally covered with pigeons – they sit on his head, his lap, his chest, his arms. He holds them with his hands. He knows many of the birds by sight and has named some. He communes with the birds, something he has been doing for over 10 years.

A bag of seed at his side, Paul feeds the birds. Trusting and tamed by his feeding and presence, passersby can typically be found to be joining Paul in his activity. An enormous flock surrounds him. Periodically, the birds, startled by some occurrence, will take to the air, giving the area a feeling reminiscent of Hitchcock’s The Birds – I actually overheard one individual walking through a fluttering flock, muttering disapprovingly how the experience compared to the classic film.

One video I reviewed shows Paul in a hostile verbal encounter with the videographer, who asked how Paul could deal with pigeon excrement, which certainly must be all over his body. Paul’s response would be well understood by any Boy Scout: people like his landlord shit on him all the time, but with birds, it could be Easily Washed Off 🙂