Where Eagles Dare

Before God created men, he must have done a million experiments trying to come out with the correct formula that would allow men to be the most intelligent and powerful being on earth.

Just think about the various organs, the gifts, God has bestowed us with. The eyes to appreciate his masterpiece, the beautiful place we call Earth, the ears to listen to and distinguish between various forms of sound. And then he gave us instincts to react to different situations.

He gave us a brain to think and make wise decisions. At the same time he gave us a heart, which most of the times contradicts the
brain, and wants things that the brain otherwise warns
us could be dangerous and hurt us in the long run.

The brain and the heart are always engaged in a never ending battle of trying to decide what should be the best for us. Sometimes you know that what you are thinking of doing is extremely foolish, unnecessary and dangerous, and that you might end up getting hurt in some way or the other.

But you still do it. Because that is what your heart says you should do. At those moments your heart overpowers your brain, and you have no control over your actions. You just know that you have to do it. Maybe you feel it would make you happy or satisfied.

So the heart is definitely more powerful than the brain. Some people will tell you that you were very stupid to have listened to your heart and not your brain. But what do they know? How do you explain it to them that that was what your heart wanted you to do, and that’s what you have done?

The simplest way is not to explain or justify your actions to anyone. They will never understand. They have never felt the way you did. They are different; and were built differently by God himself. Their heart wants different things, and they will have other things that would have higher priorities for them.

So there is no use explaining your heart’s actions to them. They won’t understand because they are in a different class than you.

There are different classes of people in this earth. When God made us, he made sure that even though we all have two hands, two legs, two eyes, and one nose, but still each one of us has a different heart beating inside us all. And it is only normal that we think and act differently in the same situations.

Depending on what and how a person thinks or acts, he can be categorized into different classes

The first class is what I like to call the chicken. These are the people who kind of enjoy being bossed around, being told what to do or how to do, without which they will feel lost and afraid. They do not have many dreams and aspirations, and are happy being controlled by others. This class of people are the weakest in the society, and most often than not, exploited. The other classes will detest them, laugh at them. But they will still talk sweetly to them because they need them to do their dirty work for them. The chicken is easily convinced, and easy to please. He will never raise his head to look ‘out of the box’ He will live, work and die inside that box.

The next class of people is the crow. They fare only a little better than the chicken as far as their dreams are concerned. They will only do what is necessary for them, and for their family. A crow will work hard and meticulously to support himself and his family, and to keep them warm, happy and satisfied. He will never take one step more than what is required, lest he should fall. He will blindly follow the others, and go where the crowd goes. He will never take any risks in his life. For a crow, risks are foolish acts and taken only by fools. He will live happily; satisfied that he has done all that is required of him. If anyone ever points a finger at a crow and finds faults with him, he will become extremely agitated and try to defend himself and his actions at any cost. This class of people is the most common in our society.

I am not saying that the crows are losers or weak in any way. In fact this is the minimum standard a person should set for himself. There is nothing wrong in being a crow. When compared to the poor caged birds who have forgotten to fly, crows are much better. A crow is aware of his duties and obligations to his family and society. But he is usually false towards himself, and his dreams.

The next class of people is the Swan. He is a little on the selfish side. A swan is extremely ambitious and will safeguard his own interests even at the cost of hurting others. This class of people is difficult to befriend or trust, because he could turn his back on you, even at the time of your greatest need if he in any way feels that it could hurt his own interests. He will always act cool and composed. He will always be serene and patient above the water surface, gliding smoothly, not making a single sound. But underneath the water surface he will be paddling like the devil to get to where he wants. Always be careful of the swan.

The last class of people is the Eagle. He will always consider himself special and gifted. He will have a strong superiority complex, and sometimes could even look down at the other classes. He will see the other classes as fools, trying to live from hand to mouth, running in the Rat Race.

You can’t blame the eagles though. From the height at which they fly, they are bound to look down upon the others, and see them running the Rat Race.

However superior an eagle might consider himself to be, he will regularly feel lonely, and sometimes suffer from prangs of anger and frustration. He will sometimes doubt his own capabilities too.

An eagle likes to take risks. For him, a job or money is not the most important. What he wants is fame, and being remembered even after he is long gone from the very face of the earth. This is the class of people who quite often turn to spirituality, and seek the guidance of the learned men. They always want to learn. They always try to look at the larger picture of life.

I love the eagles, not for their pride or superior attitude, but because of their bold and risk taking nature.

Risks are actions that are more often than not carried out against the authorization of the brain, due to the whims and fancies of the heart.

I respect people who take risks, and believe if you do not take risks in your life you will never learn or grow as an individual. If you take risks, it is only natural that you fail. But failure is not something you should be embarrassed or scared of. Pain is a teacher, and failure is the highway to success. If you haven’t failed, you haven’t tried. And if you are congratulating yourself because you have never failed in any job, you should be aware that it says that there is something very wrong with your risk taking ability.

On our death bed, it will not be all the risks we took that we will regret most. Rather it will be all those risks we did not take, all those opportunities we did not seize, and all those fears we did not face. Taking risks makes a man more learned along with helping him overcome his fears. There is no greater fool on this earth than a person who knew what he wanted in life, but did not do anything to achieve it just because he could not collect enough guts to make a dash for the last mile post.

Most people do not even know what they want from their lives. If a person is lucky enough to know what the ultimate goal in his life is, he should be bold enough to take risks to reach his goal. A life spent living in fear is a useless life. Fear of losing your job, fear of facing criticism, fear of society, what others would say about you, fear of facing failure, and fear of the future. If you know what your goal is, what your heart wants, you are lucky. You should not let unnecessary fears stop you from achieving it.

Taking risks makes a man love his life more. When he is face to face with failure, he will learn to savor success even more; he will appreciate life even more. Life will be even more beautiful for him.

And by risks, I don’t mean getting face to face with danger, and calling trouble at your door step. I do not mean trying to be a stunt man every time you get up on your bike. I don’t mean trying to jump from a building without any safety gear. That’s foolishness. That’s suicide.

There is a thin line between foolishness and risk taking. Going for a long ride or walk without any particular destination in mind, visiting places you have never visited before, doing things you have never done before, taking long unannounced leaves or quitting your job to do something you have always wanted to do, but could not find time due to the restraints imposed by the job. That’s the sort of stuff I am talking about. It’s the same risk loving nature that makes men climb the Everest, or go bungee diving, or go sky diving, or fly a fighter plane, or go deep-sea diving.

Life is nothing more than a game of numbers – the more risks we take, the more chances we have of being successful, and winning a reward. We should start doing things we fear, get good at being uncomfortable, and stop walking the path of the least resistance. Sure we will hurt our toes, but that is the only way we can ever get anywhere.

It is risky to be on a limb. But that’s where all the fruits are. And in case we fall from the limb, we can just spread our wings and fly. Fly like the eagle, reach where no one else does, reach where ‘only eagles dare’.