Along time ago I heard this story. I cant remember where, but I think it is a good lesson that we can learn from nature. There was a farmer who owned a lot of free range chickens. He was walking in his field one day. Near the side of a tree hidden in the bushes he found a chicken egg. He marveled how far that chicken came, picked it up, took it back and put it in the chicken coup. He didnt think anything else of it. One day it hatched. From it came an ugly looking chicken. The chicken had no grace, like the others. Its neck was short and stubby, its beak looked funny. It couldnt even cluck, because of it. Sometimes it would even trip over its own feet, they were so big. Ever so often he would even jump up and down flapping is big, misshapen wings, like he could fly, having a tantrum. The other chickens avoided him. He had a sad life. One day when he and the others were in the yard, a large shadow crossed on the ground. They all began to run, knowing that it was a bird of prey. It circled back around as he scrambled looking for cover. He heard a loud swoosh. A chicken screamed and all that was left were a few feathers while it was taken up screaming, to be dispatched with. It scared him to death, but he soon forgot like the rest of them. Almost a week and passed. He saw the shadow again. They all scrambled again, but this time the bird was after him. He tried to run, to duck, to weave, but those big feet kept getting in the way. Suddenly, with a force like a vice, it had him and took him up into the air higher then he could imagine. He was waiting to be killed, when he heard a voice from the wicked bird. What are you doing down there with those chickens, She asked. He was surprised. What do you mean? I am a chicken. Dont be ridiculous, she said. Youre an eagle like me. He was scared, but he shook his head violently. Im a chicken. Well lets see if you are, she said. With this she climbed higher and higher and then let him go. He found himself falling, tumbling through space. He knew he was about to die. But then he remembered watching one of the chickens they called the escape artist. It would flap its wings every so often and fly over the fence, until they got clipped. With nothing to lose he began to flap his wings. He felt himself slowing down, and to his surprise, he was soon flying. He was soaring, as if he were born to do it. The other eagle came along side him. I told that you were an eagle, she said. He smiled probably for the first time in his life. Follow me and Ill take you to meet the rest of your kind. He smiled and went along, ending up living the life that he was supposed to have live from the beginning soaring from adventure to adventure. If you find that you just cans seem to fit in no matter how you try. If you try to act like all of the other people and do the same things that they do, but you just cant. The problem may just be that you are not a chicken who is meant to run around and scratch for crumbs in the dirt, you may just be an eagle who is born to spread his wings and fly to places unknown. Stop cheating yourself and learn to fly. |
