Ruffled Feathers

It has been written that this great tree produced abundant fruit, stood tall into the heavens, and provided a safe refuge from predators hunting on the vast open plains. So it was that this legend was passed on from generation to generation, whereby all the animals in the kingdom had developed their way of life to live up in the trees. To be sure they would always have enough fruit to eat they setup elaborate systems to employ all the animals in daily tree climbing, fruit plucking, and inter-tree commerce. For variety, the animals would trade the many different fruits from tree to tree. Tens of thousands of years went by, and tree living became a major institution in the animal society. As population grew it became necessary to limit tree access; there just wasn't enough space, or fruit to go around for everyone. Tree climbing universities were established to award credentials to all the animals that so desired to climb up trees for a living. And so it was that all the many different kinds of animals, giraffes, elephants, wolves, hippos, alligators, bears, lions, squirrels, dogs, wild cats, and even ducks all registered to be educated in tree climbing. This went on for many more thousands of years.

One day, just several centuries ago, a young duck had been in route to deliver produce to another tree when it stumbled upon a small body of water. Curiously, it jumped in to experience this strange place. Wow it thought "this is so much fun. I have never felt so good in my life." Eagerly the duck ran home to tell its parents about this beautiful place. The young ducks' parents quickly scolded him, "Never go there again, it's extremely dangerous." "Why not?" the young naïve duck asked. "Because the best place to be is in the trees," said the father duck. "Trust me son, this is the way it has always been. You can make a good life for yourself in the trees, the fruit is easy to get, and you'll have the full benefit and protection of living high up off the ground away from all the unpredictable happenings of our world." And so the young duck agreed and went off to college to major in tree climbing. There he met young animals from all walks of life, all eager to become expert tree climbers. As you know, based on the history of this story, tree climbing was the best profession to be in, as handed down by many generations before. The different animals no longer thought of themselves as having any uniqueness. They were all taught that they were born to live in the trees. They never knew any other way.

Many more years went buy, and that curious young duck had long been dead and gone. It is now modern times; the United Animal Kingdom has become a leader in the animal world. With the invention of science and technology innovation, life is much easier than ever before, especially in the United Animal Kingdom. Laws and democracy had been written down in great scrolls, whereby all the animals are protected from most evils, and even starvation. The Great Great Great grandson of that duck who discovered that special place long ago was becoming of age and was ready to be trained in tree climbing. Tree climbing was still the highest paid profession, even though no one in the modern world really knew why. Maybe just because it had always been that way. The young animals were all tutored from the Great Book Of Life, written long ago by a wise old squirrel. In the Great Book it was decreed that a Great Tree is in charge of all the life and death on the animal planet, and that animals were given domain to reign over all the land. Watching their parents, the young animals learned that the best way to live your life is to worship the tree by climbing it's branches and plucking it's ripened fruit. And so it was, 1000 centuries later, and all the young animals were dreaming of being great tree climbers, even though they didn't really know why.

And so it was that the modern day young duck was ready to make a decision to set the course for his future. Being born into his world, at this time, he had learned by observing his elders that it was very important to stay high off the ground, up in the trees. He didn't really know why, but neither did any of his classmates. As well, being young that he was, he was also very concerned with finding a mate to share his life with. He realized that he had to be attractive to the young female ducks, and so he learned that it was important to achieve social prestige. The higher your social standing, the more fruit you get, and you also get the luxury penthouse near the top of the tree. It was obvious to him that his future was laid out, and off to tree climbing college he went. He got through school OK, even though he didn't have much fun, as he learned that tree climbing was difficult to do with webbed feet and feathers. But as he was taught in grade school, you should stick to things, work really hard, and you will succeed. He also realized that the Great Book written long ago decreed that you should trust the Great Tree and that it would take care of you if you ask it for guidance. So he shook off his concerns about the difficulty of tree climbing and pushed on. Soon enough, the young duck found himself in his first job high up in the trees, doing his best to pluck fruits and such. He quickly began to notice that a certain kind of animal with a long tail and sharp claws could scamper up and down the tree with grace and ease. He was very curious about the situation, and asked the animal (we know them as squirrels) how he got to be so expert at tree climbing. The squirrel replied, "It just seems to come to me." As time went on, the young duck grew despondent. He was frustrated, even with all his hard work, expensive education, and lots of practice, he could not shine like the squirrel. Having overheard his parents, it was clear to him that tree climbing was not supposed to be fun. The Animal Kingdom Dream that all animals strive for is to stay above the ground, close to the fruit, safe from danger where they can raise children to do more of the same. And that's just the way it is.

Being a fairly brilliant young duck, he decided to jump out of the tree one sunny day to see what was going on down in the spaces below (he had never learned to use his wings for flying). At first afraid, the duck stayed close to the base of the tree to observe the territory. It soon realized that there was not much going on at all. In fact, it was completely barren of all animal life forms. It seems that, over many centuries, every animal had found it's way up the tree, leaving no one to explore the spaces unknown. The young duck thought, "Why are we all up in the trees, there's nothing down here to be afraid of? In fact, the fruit is practically falling out of the trees; the ground is covered with it. I can get lots of fruit, and I don't even have to climb." The young duck was very puzzled, even confused. He had been taught his whole life to fear the spaces below, and to cherish the tree, climb its branches, and in reward he would be given plenty of fruit.

Looking in from the outside of the animal world, you and I can see that the young duck was born into this situation. He had no choice in the matter. The poor young duck did not realize that it took 999 centuries to reach this point in time. Many thousands of years of struggle and hardship had finally come to an end, just in the last century has it been safe enough to wonder the spaces below. Even so, all the animals had long forgotten what they were; everyone was so focused on climbing trees that they never stopped to wonder why. They had all been brought up to climb trees, and it was all written down in the Great Book to be fruitful and multiply.

And so it was, that the animal world had drastically changed, but the animals were not paying attention to the unknown spaces below. They were too busy learning how to be something they were not. Up in the trees the young duck began to notice, for the first time, just how emotionless all their facial expressions seemed to be. But then again, tree climbing was not supposed to be fun. And this is just the way it was supposed to be. Over the following weeks the young duck began to venture further out in the unknown spaces and finally came across that same special place his Great Great Great grandfather found centuries before. He had heard about this place, he thought it was only a legend, but not really real. Bold as he was, he jumped in the body of water and carried on with boundless energy. He had never felt this good before, and he didn't even know why, it just seemed to come to him. He was "swimming" but didn't really think that this was anything special. Nevertheless, he found his way home and climbed back up in the tree to continue his days work. Every now and then he would sneak back to this special place and do what no other duck had done before, except for his distant grandfather. He wanted to stay, and start his life anew, but wasn't sure if he should. He had been taught to be a climber, so that's what he thought he knew the best. Life is good in the trees you know, and that's just the way it is. On his way home the duck pondered to himself, "what do I be, somebody please tell me?" Under his nose, he could not see, that what he be is not up a tree. And so it was, that no one could help him make up his mind. They were all to busy pretending to be some other kind.

If we could only tell him there's nothing to look for, nothing to find, to simply be what you are, the feathery kind. What would you say to this duck that has been taught, 1,000 centuries over, to be something he's really not?