Teach an Eagle to Fly

This morning a report aired on Good Morning America about teaching an eagle to fly after it had been in captivity for 14 years.

As I watched the report, I was at first startled by the fact that an eagle would have to be taught to fly. The gracefulness and the might of an eagle causes be to just assume that all eagles have flying down. Of course, fourteen years of captivity could certainly put a strain on current flying techniques - even for an eagle.

But then it occurred to me - if an eagle has to be taught how to fly, what about all the things that the rest of us need to be taught. Far too often we believe we have all the understanding and knowledge we need. We believe that we are too advanced to learn from the young, the old, or our peers.

The reality of life is that we can never afford to stop the learning process in our own lives. Certainly there is a flood of new knowledge and information that is produced on a daily basis. There are new situations and circumstances that occur that cause us to realize that the old solutions don't always work and that we must find new ones. Even in the realm of medicine, germs mutate resulting in an immunity to previously used antibiotics and neccessitating the need for the development of stronger and different antibiotics.

No one person has all the answers. That is why those in government must surround themselves with the best of advisors from many different fields. Those advisors have advisors who consult with those working in research and those working in the marketplace. We all need to keep on learning.

Several years ago I read a little adage on a poster that stated "How can soar with eagles when I work with turkeys?" Maybe the answer to that question rests in my response to learning. A turkey stays close to the ground content to not soar the heavens. An eagle can soar high into the heavens but only after it learns to fly. If someone can teach an eagle to fly, I wonder what all I could still learn!