The story below found its way into my life a little over a decade ago and it has helped me and many of my peers verbalise societal anxieties we felt growing up. I hope that it will serve and inspire you the same way it had me.
Answering the Call ...
Once upon a time an eagle's egg was found by a farmer and mistaken for a chicken egg. The egg was placed with the other eggs in the incubator at the hen house.
Some weeks later that egg hatched. The baby eagle was born and raised as a chicken with his chicken peers. He was taught to peck and scratch. He was taught to scurry along the ground like the other chickens. He was sternly warned against flying, because chickens don't really fly, they flutter and fall.
This eagle made a miserable chicken. He didn't scurry well. He didn't peck well. He was always hungry, because chicken feed was just never satisfying to him. The other chickens found him disruptive.
After years of struggling to be a normal chicken, this poor eagle's self esteem was pretty low. He hated himself. "Why am I so big, and awkward and unusual looking?" he would wonder, "Why can I not find satisfaction in those things that satisfy all the other chickens?"
“Is this all there is to life?” he agonized, “Where's the thrill and excitement?!"
He began to do more and more disruptive things just to get a little hit of excitement. He was starved for action and adventure, so he tried to make up his own thrilling dramas around the chicken coop. Other chickens caught on to his discontent and called him selfish, disordered and a troublemaker. The poor eagle took it all to heart and became depressed.
One day, high overhead the young eagle saw another eagle soaring high in the sky. It took his breath away. For that moment he felt a surge of recognition. He felt something inside him stirring and he felt more alive than he ever had.
In his excitement he told his family of chickens what he saw and they scoffed at him. “Flying is risky, irresponsible and impractical.” the chickens warned.
“When will you grow up and join the pecking order of this chicken coop? Why can't you be more like your peers?"
The young eagle was shamed and disheartened. He felt hopeless and alone as he fell to sleep that night. The next day, to his delight, he spotted that same eagle soaring up above.
And this time the soaring bird let out the cry of an eagle.
The moment the young eagle heard this cry something unexpected happened. The young eagle raised by chickens found his body lurching and his throat contracting.
Uncontrollably his entire being responded to that eagle's cry with his own majestic eagle cry.
He was astonished. “What had just happened?” “Did that glorious sound come from him? Chickens don't make that sound! Only eagles do. ... Wait. ... Only eagles do!"
The young eagle, finally aware of what he truly was, stretched out his wings for the first time and flew. He was no longer imprisoned by the chicken coop, because he was no longer imprisoned by the idea that he had to be a chicken. Nothing could contain him anymore.
A chicken coop can only coop chickens; it cannot stop an eagle from soaring when he hears his call.
Have you heard your call? Maybe this is it.
Once upon a time an eagle's egg was found by a farmer and mistaken for a chicken egg. The egg was placed with the other eggs in the incubator at the hen house.
Some weeks later that egg hatched. The baby eagle was born and raised as a chicken with his chicken peers. He was taught to peck and scratch. He was taught to scurry along the ground like the other chickens. He was sternly warned against flying, because chickens don't really fly, they flutter and fall.
This eagle made a miserable chicken. He didn't scurry well. He didn't peck well. He was always hungry, because chicken feed was just never satisfying to him. The other chickens found him disruptive.
After years of struggling to be a normal chicken, this poor eagle's self esteem was pretty low. He hated himself. "Why am I so big, and awkward and unusual looking?" he would wonder, "Why can I not find satisfaction in those things that satisfy all the other chickens?"
“Is this all there is to life?” he agonized, “Where's the thrill and excitement?!"
He began to do more and more disruptive things just to get a little hit of excitement. He was starved for action and adventure, so he tried to make up his own thrilling dramas around the chicken coop. Other chickens caught on to his discontent and called him selfish, disordered and a troublemaker. The poor eagle took it all to heart and became depressed.
One day, high overhead the young eagle saw another eagle soaring high in the sky. It took his breath away. For that moment he felt a surge of recognition. He felt something inside him stirring and he felt more alive than he ever had.
In his excitement he told his family of chickens what he saw and they scoffed at him. “Flying is risky, irresponsible and impractical.” the chickens warned.
“When will you grow up and join the pecking order of this chicken coop? Why can't you be more like your peers?"
The young eagle was shamed and disheartened. He felt hopeless and alone as he fell to sleep that night. The next day, to his delight, he spotted that same eagle soaring up above.
And this time the soaring bird let out the cry of an eagle.
The moment the young eagle heard this cry something unexpected happened. The young eagle raised by chickens found his body lurching and his throat contracting.
Uncontrollably his entire being responded to that eagle's cry with his own majestic eagle cry.
He was astonished. “What had just happened?” “Did that glorious sound come from him? Chickens don't make that sound! Only eagles do. ... Wait. ... Only eagles do!"
The young eagle, finally aware of what he truly was, stretched out his wings for the first time and flew. He was no longer imprisoned by the chicken coop, because he was no longer imprisoned by the idea that he had to be a chicken. Nothing could contain him anymore.
A chicken coop can only coop chickens; it cannot stop an eagle from soaring when he hears his call.
Have you heard your call? Maybe this is it.
Source: The Davinci Method by G. Loporto (2005)
