Eagle never takes flight lessons from chickens.

My father used to say, “Life is simple, yet we spend our entire day making it complex and the rest of the days trying to solve the mess that has been created.”

Those who struggle to exist and get noticed eventually try to fit into the ecosystem. Then the life journey for such individuals starts and ends in this sequence “Born by Default, Lived by Default, and Died by Default.”

The probable convenient reason is “Birth of an individual is by Default.” You would agree that you can’t control your own birth, neither the time, neither the place, nor the parents to whom you are born to. While as an infant, we are trying to pull ourselves self-up to stand, we are then extended a hand by either our parents or someone close. So our first step, too, is controlled by someone else; as I put it across, even that happens by default which can be considered natural. Obviously, the school we are admitted to is also, by default, selected by parents or guardians as per their good judgment and affordability. Since most of us got average or just above average marks in school board exams (here I am expressing for the populace in general and not about those 15-20 % exceptions who score high or very high marks), the college we got into, was also not our first or second choice so even that comes to us by default. Forced into college and to a field not of our choice after graduation or further studies, the first job offer, probably the only one we got, was readily accepted, so even the organization we joined was by default. This, unfortunately for a few, becomes the way of life.

Besides, the data from January 2018 suggests 93% of Indians said they had an arranged marriage. So the sequence of events in life for such individuals follows a pattern, Born by default, first walk-step as a baby by default, school and college admission by default, marriage by default; further to this, when would I work in the next vantage position by default. For such individuals, when every single step of their life is controlled by someone else, and they never made their own decision, isn’t life best described for such people as “Born by Default, Lived by Default, and Died by Default”?

“Most of these individuals then live their life by default, where most of the decisions of their life are being taken by someone else.” What they create for themselves is perhaps a dependency trap, a periphery beyond which they cannot make major decisions in their life.

Please distinguish the fact “We are all Born Eagles, yet choose to lead a life of a chicken.” The following story depicts the common narrative of many life journeys.

Once there was this pregnant eagle having an awe-inspiring majesty, rightly called “The KING or QUEEN of the Sky.” On a sunny morning, she soared from her high-altitude mountain nest and flew for a few minutes at that altitude before descending to a lower altitude to find and collect food for her “to-be-born” babies. Suddenly she could feel the pain, and she realized it was time to lay eggs. Shockingly she understood to have flown very far off from her nest, and it would be too late if she didn’t lay her eggs immediately.

Realizing the urgency, she decided to lay her egg in a safe place. She saw a small hut and a stack of dry grass. She felt it to be a secure place and decided to lay the egg. Before the baby hatched, she thought of gathering the food and bringing it as fast as possible. She flew off to search the food, and after an hour, when she collected sufficient food, she tried recalling the place she had laid her egg. But to her dismay, she couldn’t find the exact location. She frantically searched the entire area but unfortunately failed to find the place. After hours and days of search, regretfully, she flew back to her nest.

The stack where the eagle had laid the egg was, in fact, made by a Hen who had planned to lay and hatch her eggs. The hen was surprised to see this big egg, but being a mother, she decided to give warmth to all the eggs, and eventually, 4 chickens got hatched, and 1 baby eagle was born. The hen took great care of all babies, including that of the eagle. While the baby eagle grew up, she copied the exact style of pecking feed in crumble, small grains, grass, worms, or insects, just as the chickens did. The eagle baby copied the walk and the run of his brother and sister chickens and learned a variety of sounds to indicate and communicate with each other.

One day, a year later, when they had grown up, all four chickens and the baby eagle went walking together to a tableland where they could see the entire village from the top. While observing this, the grown-up eagle could see a large majestic bird flying around, and he couldn’t stop exclaiming, “Lo behold, what a grandiose site to see such a bird fly; they must be calling it the King of the Sky, I wish I could fly one day like this bird. The rest of the chickens around started making fun of the eagle and said do not even dream of such flight. You are born to hop and eat like a chicken, and you would die a chicken. The eagle got disheartened as the chickens mocked him and thereafter forever stopped thinking about the majestic bird in the sky.

“People kill that part within themselves of being an Eagle, every day consciously or subconsciously, merely to survive and be a chicken for the rest of their life.” Isn’t it a shame!

Each one of us is a “Born Eagle,” then why do we behave like chickens. The only way out is to keep companionship with people who can aid you in growing. Don’t waste your time with complainers and people who expect and view life’s journey negatively.

If you fall in the company of negative thinking individuals, you will start looking at life from a “Prism of Prejudice.” The limited experience and wisdom of such individuals, coupled with a few obstacles that you couldn’t stand against, will start making your life a drag, and you will feel like a misfit in this world.

“Every person teaches us something, many times, what not to learn is equally important.” “Wisdom is all across; everyone has one, and they enjoy giving it to others even if not asked for”… I’m gonna leave you to it until we meet next.

Do you like this blog? Share your thoughts in the comment section! And join our other social platforms, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn, and do subscribe to our YouTube channel!