Elephants cannot fly. They have no wings and are too heavy to lift themselves off on their own. I cannot too, for the same reasons. Come to think of it, neither can you, you, you and all the rest of you too. And all the animals on earth and those that live in water too.

Of course one can ‘fly’ by boarding a plane or a helicopter. All you need is moolah to buy a ticket. The plane has what it takes to lift off with you and everyone else on board.. But that’s not flying in the real sense. Is it? Not like having your own sets of wings and soaring up in the sky …like birds. You cannot physically lift yourself off, not up to this point in evolution anyway.

Metaphorically though you can ‘fly’, that too minus wings and without moving an inch. All you need is imagination. It can fly you to any place you choose in the known world and also the unknown. How cool is that! It not only lets you soar up there in the sky with the birds, it can also ‘fly’ you to the moon or any planet of your choice where no birds can hope to go. It can even let you ‘fly’ into the outer reaches of our solar system and beyond.

But please don’t fly off. Not yet. You have this post to read. And I have more to say. After that you are free to fly anywhere you choose, I promise.

So…

Elephants cannot fly. But that doesn’t make them worthless. But what if there are these judges out there and they start judging the elephants for their inability to fly? What if all land and water animals are deemed worthless and mocked because they cannot lift themselves off and soar …like a bird?

“But…” we, the humans would protest, “we can do other things. We are good with our hands. See, we make things that the birds cannot. We can till lands, make food grow….” Your voice trails off trying to find more things that give you an upper hand in the comparison.

“All useless things!” the self-appointed judges say dismissively. ‘Birds fly. Period. And that’s what you should be aiming for. but you can’t. So shut up, you unworthy worms!’

The worm is not going to take this lying down and would certainly interrupt at this point. “Hey! Watch your words, buster! Birds are nothing without their morning worm! Let me see them fly on an empty tummy. Ha! Worthless and me? You wish!”

Meanwhile you will find that the crocodile has started to cry. No, no. Not crocodile tears! The crocodile is genuinely upset by all this. You see it’s self esteem has taken a real beating with the constant barrage of ‘you are no good at flying’ he’s been taking. The tortoise, turtle and the alligator are in agreement that this is very unfair. They have all been dismissed as dunces too many times all because they cannot fly and it rankles.

“We can swim though!” the alligator stiffly adds, clicking its teeth together. It knows this makes no difference, but how long can one take things lying down? The fish blink nonchalantly and merrily swim away. They cannot be bothered with these comparisons. “We have a good life in the water!” they say, “Why would we want to fly? Stupid criterion’s!” And anyway they are blessed with the ability to forget. More power to them.

The monkey scratches its head. “I can climb trees. Why doesn’t that count? In fact I can go up to the topmost branch, I can even swing on the vines. I bet no bird can do THAT!” The judges shout: “SHUT UP you monkey-face! Topmost branch, my foot! Do you even know how high the sky is?!! You cannot fly. so not another word. SIT DOWN!”

The bees buzz in protest. So what if they cannot fly in the sky? They fly, don’t they? Besides, they know for a fact that without them bees everything would collapse. Then where would birds be? “Enough of your meaningless comparisons!” they angrily buzz, and converging as one on the foolish judges, sting them mercilessly.

Sigh. All that was just my imagination taking wings and soaring. But…

I do wish the bees would do the needful for real to those who offer a single, narrow standard to measure success in life We cannot (and needn’t) ALL pass out in the same flying colours in the same tests set out for us in life. We need not (and cannot) all talk, eat, live, love, dress the same way. We are each of us unique in our own way, with our own sets of abilities, likes, dislikes. In short, it is perfectly okay if we cannot fly. Instead walk, run, climb, swim, crawl, or slither… with dignity.

©️ Shail Mohan 2024