ln a quiet countryside, far from the noise and distractions of the modern world, a wise man’s car broke down near a remote village. As he walked toward the village seeking help, he stumbled upon a scene that would leave him speechless.
An elderly villager sat calmly on a traditional wooden cot, surrounded by chickens pecking at grains on the ground. Among them, however, was a sight so peculiar that it made the wise man stop in his tracks. There, amidst the hens and chicks, was a young eagle — not soaring in the skies, but bending down to peck at the grains like the chickens around it.
Astonished, the wise man asked, “Why is this eagle behaving like a chicken? Why is it pecking at the ground instead of flying in the sky?”
The old man chuckled softly and replied, “I found this young eagle wounded in the mountains. I brought it home, tended to its wounds, and placed it among my chickens. When it opened its eyes for the first time, it saw only chickens. It grew up watching them, learning their ways. Over time, it forgot what it was. Now, it believes it’s a chicken too.”
The wise man was deeply moved. “This creature was born to rule the skies, not scratch at the dirt,” he said. He requested the eagle from the old man and took it with him.
From that day forward, the wise man began working with the eagle. Every day, he took it to the rooftop, held it up, and encouraged it:
“You are an eagle, not a chicken! The sky is your destiny!”
But every time, the eagle looked down in fear, tucked its wings, and sat back on the ground. Days turned into weeks, weeks into months. Still, the wise man never gave up.
“Know who you truly are!” he would repeat. “You were not meant to live among the timid. You were born to soar!”
Finally, one day, the man took the eagle to a high mountain cliff. The wind roared, and the sky stretched endlessly above them. With firm hands, he held the eagle over the edge and said:
“Now, either fly… or fall.”
Terrified, the eagle closed its eyes. The man let go.
As the eagle plunged downward, heart racing, something inside it awakened. The ground rushed closer — and then, instinct took over. It spread its wings. The air caught beneath them.
For the first time…
It flew.
Higher and higher it soared, the wind in its wings, the clouds below. It let out a cry of joy, a cry of identity:
“I am an eagle!”
Down below, the wise man smiled.
“I didn’t give you anything new,” he whispered, “I only reminded you of who you already were.”
The moral of the story:
This is not just the story of an eagle.
It is the story of all of us.
Many of us were raised in environments that told us we were ordinary, weak, incapable — that we were meant to live like chickens, never to dream, never to fly. Society, media, fear, and doubt often clip our wings before we even try to use them.
But you are not weak.
You were not born to live small.
You carry within you the power to rise, to inspire, to lead, to change the world.
All it takes is someone — or something — to remind you of your truth.
You are an eagle.
Your place is not in the dirt. Your place is in the sky.
So spread your wings.
And fly.
Mohd Amin Mir
mi********@***il.com