I had often wondered why she usually came home with little beings trapped between her sharp talons and made me snuff the life out of them before eating them. Laughing at the fright on my face when the creature whimpered, she quietly explained to me that they were made for us to eat and there was nothing wrong with that. Without them we would not exist.In short jumps, she took me up to the edge of the cliff. She had told me that it would be the venue of my first flight. I looked down the edge in fright. My legs were so wobbly I thought I would fall down the ravine and find myself in the place all creatures go at the end of life. My heart beat so hard against my chest that I thought it would surely fall out.
I looked at my mother, a silent plea on my face. She smiled at me gently and said ‘Courage is not the absence of fear but the mastery of it. We are not the kings of the sky because we are the largest birds on the earth. We are kings because we take the elements and make them work for us. When we spread our wings, the winds push at us from all angles but we do not relent. We simply hold on and when we hold on long enough, the winds bow to us because we do not bow to it. We soar higher than other birds because we believe we can. Jumping down this edge is the first of many challenges you will encounter in your life but once you surmount this challenge you will realize that nothing is impossible as long as you believe it.
The words that she spoke to me literarily made my head swell. I suddenly saw myself like a giant. I felt as if I was even bigger than the sun despite how mysterious it seemed. I puffed out my chest and spread my wings. I was still lost in thought when she pushed me off the edge. That was the first time I conquered my fear.
