It was a Sunday morning and I'm waiting anxiously in my room for my friend.  I have so many things to share with him; complaints, gossips, secrets, arguments… wow! Lots of things happen within a week and I'm excited to narrate all those to my friend.  I need sympathy for my complaints and support for my arguments. As my friend arrived at my room, I didn’t even bother to offer him some water.  I've started complaining as soon as he sat down wearily after a long journey, “you know how mean my sister is, last week…” 

 

“Let me tell you a story my friend” my listener interrupted me, I'm surprised at his intrusion as he doesn’t speak much in between, sometimes I even doubt whether he was listening to me! But my friend continued with his dialogue despite my reaction “Thousands of years ago, there was an eagle which has a problem in its attitude, it was happy to fill its stomach with the worms that crawled around its nest, it never ventured to fly high in search of better food unlike the other eagles. 

 

“As the days passed by it grew weaker with insufficient food but still didn’t endeavour to fly out of its nest, rather it began to descend on the ground in search of worms.  One day it realised its mistake and tried to fly for a better life, but couldn’t! Its wings have lost their ability to let it fly high, it flapped its wings hard and cried aloud for help till its face turned red – but couldn’t reverse its fate “It could never rest in peace with the burden of guilt and woke up early in the morning trying to fly again by flapping its wings and crying aloud in desperation – it’s no more an eagle.  People has given a new name for the creature, they called it a COCK as it woke them up early in the morning like a CLOCK.  The shrill it makes is a wake up call for those who lie peacefully in the darkness of ignorance.”

 

My friend stood up as he completed the story and said his last words before he left me “It’s unto you to decide whether you want to be a cock or an eagle, to feed on those trifle things all through your life and become a cock or to use all the powers the nature has bestowed upon you to aim higher and achieve the highest.”

 

- K.L.Surya.