The Chicken and the Eagle

During our trip in Manila, i met my dad's cousin, uncle Ojing. He's really an inspiring man. He's so smart and has so many stories to tell and words of wisdom to share. He has written a grammar book together with his wife, tita Twinny. For 4 days, they accomodated us warmly and we're so happy and thankful for their generosity.

They have two boys, Rovik and Orvik who are just as impressive as their parents. They study at home with their parents as their teachers for English, Math and Science, and also go to school (Victory Int'l School in BGC) for some subjects like PE and Values Education. These kids are very smart and they speak fluently in English and Tagalog. You may think home-schooled kids are loners or geeks but these two boys are intelligent yet very energetic, active, friendly and outgoing kids. Aside from doing good in their studies, they are also athletes playing football and swimming. The photo above shows Me, Papa and Ate with Orvik and Rovik after their football training.

Uncle showed us one of Rovik's projects, a school paper, all written, designed and printed by him. My mind was just blown away with the structure, organization of thought and advanced level of writing of this kid. Orvik shared an article about his experience in one of their football tournaments and it was a lot of fun to read. Rovik posted the write-ups in his own blog, too. I got to talk with Rovick about flash animation and techie stuff. He said he wants to study Computer Science in college. They boy knows what he wants in his young age.

You might wonder why this post is titled as it is. I'll proceed to that now :). As we were finding our way to the hotel in Pampanga, uncle Ojing, who was driving the van, and Papa were talking about the death of uncle's dad. He shared how his dad was so smart and can do many things in life but chose to be with his chickens (for sabong, perhaps). Rovik even called him Lolo Chicken because of his fondness for sabong (cock-fighting). Uncle, then, shared this story about the eagle and the chickens.~

A long time ago in a remote valley, there lived a farmer. One day he got tired of the daily routine of running the farm and decided to climb the cliffs that brooded above the valley to see what lay beyond.

He climbed all day until he reached a ledge just below the top of the cliff; there, to his amazement was a nest, full of eggs.

Immediately he knew they were eagle's eggs and, even though he knew it was profoundly un-ecological and almost certainly illegal, he carefully took one and stowed it in his pack; then seeing the sun was low in the sky, he realized it was too late in the day to make the top and slowly began to make his way down the cliff to his farm.

When he got home he put the egg in with the few chickens he kept in the yard. The mother hen was the proudest chicken you ever saw, sitting atop this magnificent egg; and the cockerel couldn't have been prouder.

Sure enough, some weeks later, from the egg emerged a fine, healthy eaglet. And as is in the gentle nature of chickens, they didn't balk at the stranger in their midst and raised the majestic bird as one of their own.

So it was that the eagle grew up with its brother and sister chicks. It learned to do all the things chickens do: it clucked and cackled, scratching in the dirt for gritsand worms, flapping its wings furiously, flying just a few feet in the air before crashing down to earth in a pile of dust and feathers.

It believed resolutely and absolutely it was a chicken.

One day, late in its life, the eagle-who-thought-he-was-a-chicken happened to look up at the sky. High overhead, soaring majestically and effortlessly on the thermals with scarcely a single beat of its powerful golden wings, was an eagle!

"What's that?!", cried the old eagle in awe. "It's magnificent! So much power and grace! It's beautiful!"

"That's an eagle", replied a nearby chicken, "That's the King of the Birds. It's a bird of the air... not for the likes of us. We're only chickens, we're birds of the earth".

With that, they all cast their eyes downwards once more and continued digging in the dirt.

And so it was that the eagle lived and died a chicken... because that's all it believed itself to be.

~So there you have it. Uncle shared this story which he compares to his father who had the talent but settled with mediocrity due to the influence of the people who surrounded him. It's a simple story but this is the reality. We are all meant to be great but if we let people dictate who we are and what we will be, we won't go far in life.

We must believe in our capabilities and always do our best in everything we do to be successful in life. Let no one hinder us from making it big and achieving our dreams and aspiration. God already gave us the things we need and it's up for us on how to use them.~

This story was originally written by Dr. Eldon Taylor in NY Times Best-selling book, "Choices and Illusions." I copied the text here. Photo credits: Egg by inuks; Eaglet; Chicken by ugil. You may also watch the story here.