Once there was a king who
received a gift of two magnificent falcons from Arabia. They were peregrine falcons,
the most beautiful birds he had ever seen. He gave the precious birds to his
head falconer to be trained.
Months passed and one day the
head falconer informed the king that though one of the falcons was flying
majestically, soaring high in the sky, the other bird had not moved from its
branch since the day it had arrived.
The king summoned healers and
sorcerers from all the land to tend to the falcon, but no one could make the
bird fly. He presented the task to the member of his court, but the next day,
the king saw through the palace window that the bird had still not moved from
its perch.
Having tried everything else,
the king thought to himself, "May be I need someone more familiar with the
countryside to understand the nature of this problem." So he cried out to
his court, "Go and get a farmer."
In the morning, the king was thrilled to see the falcon
soaring high above the palace gardens. He said to his court, "Bring me the
doer of this miracle."
The court quickly located the
farmer, who came and stood before the king. The king asked him, "How did
you make the falcon fly?"
With his head bowed, the farmer said to the king, “It was very easy, your Highness. I simply cut the branch where the bird was sitting."
With his head bowed, the farmer said to the king, “It was very easy, your Highness. I simply cut the branch where the bird was sitting."
We are all made to fly - to
realize our incredible potential as human beings. But instead of doing that, we
sit on our branches, clinging to the things that are familiar to us. The
possibilities are endless, but for most of us, they remain undiscovered. We
conform to the familiar, the comfortable and the mundane. So for the most part
our lives are mediocre instead of exciting, thrilling and fulfilling.
So let us learn to destroy
the branch of fear we cling to and free ourselves to the glory of flight.
"Why
walk when you can fly”