The Chicken and the Farmer

"Do your little bit of good where you are; it's those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world."

- Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Eagle Flying Away - Dall·e AI

Below is a story that I heard Archbishop Desmond Tutu tell almost 20 years ago. I don't think the story is original to him but this is the version of it that he told and exactly as I heard it from him many, many moons ago. This impactful and thought provoking story deserves to live on so here it is:

There’s a story they tell of a farmer who had a chicken in his backyard, ordinary chicken, but a strange-looking chicken. It looked like the other chickens, but it didn’t look quite like other chickens. And the farmer was a little puzzled. And then, a traveler came by who new about these things. And he came, and the farmer took him around, and he looked at the chickens, and he saw this one. And he said, “No, no, that’s no chicken, man, that’s an eagle.” And the farmer said, “What? It’s like other chickens.” So the man said “Give it to me”. The farmer gives him this strange-looking chicken, and the man takes it, and he waits until very early in the morning, and he climbs a mountain. And when he gets to the top, and the sun is rising, he turns this strange-looking chicken towards the rising sun and he says “Fly, eagle, fly”. And this strange-looking chicken shakes itself, spreads out its pinions, and lifts off. And it glides and soars and flies toward the rising sun and disappears. Well, God says to us, “Hey, you are no chicken; you are an eagle. Fly, eagle, fly!” And God expects you, me, I, all of us, to shake ourselves, spread out our wings, and lift off, and we soar. And we soar towards goodness, laughter, compassion, gentleness, because you see, you and I are made for goodness. You and I are made for transcendence. You and I are made as those who have to transform this world… and God says “Fly, eagle, fly!”