My Life as an Eagle Part of my youth, I spent it traveling. I spent about a year in India. India is amazing. Its immense diversity makes the subcontinent a spring of experience for travelers. I liked their rich culture. I came across the idea of reincarnation in India. The fact that you can be reborn an animal after death seemed close to reality in India. When I was a child, there were story compositions that we used to write in school like; "If I was a donkey" And "My life as a dog" and also interesting ones like "If I was born a hyena." It never hit me, at any moment, that I could actually become one, on my afterlife. My first encounter with reincarnation was on my first day in India. I took a tour to a Ganesh temple in Mumbai. Ganesh is the god of wealth. He is also called the elephant god because he is half elephant and half-human. Our tour guide mentioned that those who get reincarnated into elephants are usually the luckiest. Later that day, I thought hard about what animal I would like to become, on reincarnation. It was not simple to decide. As I was thinking, a story that I was told by my friend, a few years back, flashed through my mind. It was about an eagle. Vivian was my friend. We were not that tight, but we used to associate since we were in the same student association in college. One morning, we were going to meet the head of the department for possible partnerships in the association. As we were walking, she started. "Which is your favorite animal?" She broke the silence. I was not expecting it. I thought that since she was an environmental student, that seemed like her topic. Probably she was starting a conversation. Maybe the silence has bombarded her. "Mnnnn... I don't know. I have never thought of it" I replied. "Mine is an eagle!" She said beaming with excitement. I was surprised. I thought she would mention a cat. Most girls love cats. The grin in her eyes caught my attention. "Why?" I asked curiously. I slowed down a bit and drew closer to her so that I could hear her. Vivian was soft-spoken. I was surprised that she started it, and was actually ready to tell me a story. "Eagles are leaders, they soar beyond the skies and are fighters. Do you know how they learn to be all that?" She asked stealing a glimpse on my face. "They are born leaders" I replied. Trying to keep up with the conversation. Her voice was now a bit louder and she seemed warm and excited. She paused for a minute, looking at the road ahead. I could feel our feet thumbing on the dusty road to the faculty. The silence was a bit uncomfortable. When I was about to talk, she turned to me and said. "An eagles is loner. Ones it hatches its chicks, it feeds them for a few weeks and when the chicks are strong and able to move around, it starts reweaving the nest with thorns. The thorns start making the chicks uncomfortable until when they leave the nest. Eagles build their nest high up on the mountains. The chicks are left with no option but to learn how to fly. Once they leave the nest, they never go back. They start their world, that early." We were now climbing the stairs to the office. We were both silent. "Amazing! I did not know. Thank you for the story." I whispered as she knocked on the door. That is the story that I remembered a couple of years later. And that evening, I declared that if ever there is reincarnation, and I have a choice of what I would like to be in my afterlife, then I would like to be an eagle. A few years later, I met this amazing man who ran a company named Golden Eagle Services. I asked him why he chose the name for his company. Eric, his name, replied. "An eagle is an amazing animal. It has peculiar traits that no other animal possesses. An eagle is never afraid of storms. It actually flies towards the storm, penetrates beyond it and spreads its wings riding on the strongest winds. Would you do that?" Eric asked. "Mnnn. most of us we would rather avoid storms" I replied. He continued. "Right. But the eagle knows that the only thing that can make it stronger, is the storm. And it cherishes it. It does not mind if the storm will destroy its nest or make it wet and cold. Its focus is to move beyond its limits" Eric paused. It has a special power of locking its wing in a fixed position amidst the storm making it sail through the toughest storm." He looked at me and asked. "Do you know that an eagle can live for more than 70 years?" I was surprised. Chickens rarely live beyond their fifth birthday. And my dog Tommy did not even reach 10 years. "Really? Like humans?" I asked. "Yes. But an eagle's life span is about 40 years. However, an eagle does something special that doubles its lifespan" Eric was now beaming with excitement. I knew he was about to tell me another eagle fact. It was becoming interesting. "By the time an eagle reaches 40 years, its old, weak and frail. Its talons are curved and it can't grip anything, the beak is bent and the feathers are torn. It becomes difficult for the eagle to find food and even fly to its nest high in the mountain. At this time the eagle knows that it has to change or else it will die. So it prepares. It feeds well and then flies high into the mountains. It scratches its talons on the rocks until old talons scraps. It then uses its beak to pluck off all its old and torn feather. Lastly, it knocks it's bent beak on the rock until it breaks into pieces. After a few months, new talons, new feathers, and a new beak start to grow. The eagle is reborn and for the next 30 years, it soars the skies and beats the storms till its 70" Eric paused and breathed deeply. "I have always admired the eagle. I am a golden eagle. Like the one in the bible," he whispered. "The one in the bible?" I asked curiously. I felt embarrassed that I did not even know that an eagle has been mentioned in the bible. "Yes. Isaiah 40:30 says; They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint" he quoted with a big smile on his face. "The eagle's eyesight is powerful. It can clearly see four miles away. When the day breaks, the first thing an eagle does is to clean old feathers. It does so by pulling them with its beak. This makes them free and unstuck." he continued "But the most amazing trait of the eagle lies in solidarity. When the eagle is going through rejuvenation process ready to be reborn, the young and powerful ones will feed it until it is ready to fly again. This selfless neighborhood makes an eagle an outstanding bird. Sometimes, eagles also get distressed and they fail to clean up their feathers. The feathers get stuck and it can no longer be able to fly again. At this moment, their partners will get food for them until that time they are able to get over it." Eric illustrated the eagle with so much enthusiasm. The eagle will remain in a special place in my heart and again if ever I will be reincarnated, I would like to be an eagle. Of course in Christianity, this is just a fad. But who knows; thou shalt not judge. |
|
|
|
This blog post was published on 05 Feb 2020 in Inspiration category. Access all the posts at Blog |