We are Made to Fly High
A long time ago someone gifted two eaglets to a King. The King had never seen such magnificent eaglets before and decided to hire an experienced caretaker for them.
The King said to Caretaker: “I want to see them fly.” The man gave them the signal to fly but while one eagle was touching the heights of the sky, the other flew for some seconds and then returned to the branch where it had been sitting before it took off.
After seeing this, the King became curious to know the reason for the contrasting behaviour of eagles and asked the Caretaker: “What’s the reason for one eagle flying so well while the other one is not?” The Caretaker replied: “Yes, this has been a problem from the beginning with this eagle as he does not like to leave this branch.”
The King desperately wanted to see the second eagle flying high in the sky and so the next day he announced that the person who managed to help this eagle fly would be well rewarded. After this announcement, many people came and tried but no-one was successful. The eagle continued to fly for a short time before returning to its branch.
Then one day something strange happened: the king saw both of them flying high in the sky. He could not believe on his eyes and immediately called the Caretaker. The Caretaker informed the King: “Yes, the second eagle is also flying high in the sky now. One man, a local farmer, was successful in making this happen.”
The King had the Caretaker bring the farmer who had done this to him and asked: “How did you do it?” The farmer replied: “I simply cut down the branch on which it had a habit of sitting on.”
“I am very pleased with you” replied the King “But tell me how did you do this while our great scholars and highly qualified people could not?” The farmer replied: “Your highness, I am a simple farmer. I just simply cut down the branch on which the eagle had a habit of sitting. As there was no branch, it had no option but to fly which it did very well.”
Just as the eagle didn’t realize that he could actually fly so high and always liked to remain on the branch, we also sometimes underestimate ourselves and don’t realize our true potential. In life, we often become set in our ways and keep doing what we have always done and forget about our capacity to fly high.
Like the eagle we sometimes prefer to remain on the “branch” of our comfort zone. To fly high in life and unlock our true potential it is necessary that we cut that branch as this is where we can achieve great things.
A Thought from your Club Chat Editor:
I hope you enjoyed this story. One of our roles as Rotarians going forward will be to help support individuals and organisations emerge from their “branch” as life gradually returns to some degree of normality following what will be remembered as one of the most significant events they have faced in their lifetime.