Made to Fly

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."
Moral: 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.
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