NO GOLDEN CAGES FOR ME
I recently visited a zoo and spent a few hours looking at
birds in cages. There were cages of all sizes. The
birds appeared to be healthy and well-fed, but somehow what I saw
didn't seem even remotely right. I felt like I was looking
at a maximum security bird prison in which all inmates were
serving a life sentence without hope of parole.
I think that birds need more than food, water, and limited space.
They need freedom to soar on the updrafts and to allow their
instincts to show them the way. I can't believe that
Jailbirds are happy birds; they just were not designed to live in
cages. If I don't like living in a cage, I can't imagine why
a bird would like it either.
I also wasn't designed to live in a cage. That's one reason
I enjoy watching birds in free flight. They
demonstrate unfettered freedom that inspires me to spread my wings
and fly. The problem is that I spend too much time building
golden cages when I should be out soaring in total freedom.
Birds have an excuse. They didn't choose their golden cages.
They were captured, trained, and tamed to tolerate their jailbird
existence.
I, on the other hand, don't have an excuse. When I was born
into this world, I was given the freedom of choice. If I end
up living in a cage, it's because I decided to live there, and I
have no one to blame but myself.
Since I returned to "uncivilization", I met hundreds of
people living in golden cages. How do I know that?
It's simple. They are doing work that they hate so they can
pay for a lifestyle that is driving them crazy. Their cages
come in all different shapes and sizes. They are running on
treadmills in Nowhere Land, and most important of all, they are
not living their dreams.
Take a look at the eagle at the top of this page. Imagine
what his life would be like if you put him in a cage. Would
he be happy?
Living in golden cages is not for the birds, and it's not for me.
I've learned my lesson. Good-bye golden cage, hello freedom.
No more golden cages for me.
The eagle in this picture
lives at the Hole in the Wall in Langkawi, Malaysia. We
spent several days photographing dozens of eagles as they swept
down from the sky to pick up scraps of food floating the water.
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