Stop quacking and start swimming
Years ago, I remember my wife and I having dinner along the Susquehanna River at one of our favorite spots. The restaurant has a deck overlooking the water, and my daughters used to work there. Kristin seated us and, as she did, she pointed out that there was a fat white duck in the river for us to watch. She loves ducks. So, we began watching the fluffy little critter frolicking in the water.
After a while, I noticed the duck began swimming upstream. The bright bird swam faster than I ever saw a duck swim. I couldn’t figure why it didn’t spread its wings and fly since it appeared it was trying to get somewhere in a hurry. Then it dawned on me. I’ll bet this duck can’t fly. The chubby little creature was very white, and it dawned upon me that it might be a domesticated duck whose wings were clipped. It grew too large to be a pet, so it was released. This interpretation made sense to me.
This waterfowl seemed to be doing quite well though. It was certainly not starving, and it was skimming along the water mighty fast. It seems to have adapted to its’ limitations quite well.
It made me think . . . you know we all have limitations. I enjoy playing sports, but I’m not very athletic. So, I just play for fun. I love to read, but I’m not a speed reader. Instead, I read in the early morning, or when most folks are in bed or watching TV, so I enjoy dozens of books every year. I was never very academic, but I chipped away at education for many years and finally completed a doctorate one day. There’s a lot to be said for persistence and perseverance.
I frequently meet people who feel like they’ve gotten their wings clipped in one way or another. Some of them embitter themselves and live the unhappy martyrs’ life. They make themselves and everyone around them miserable, or they adopt an entitlement mentality and expect everyone to serve them. Non-adapters just float around quacking all the time. Donald Duck is their hero.
But others are like that little white duck on the river. They just learn to swim faster to get where they want to go. Lots of animals don’t have wings, and they get along just fine.
Helen Keller became blind and deaf at nineteen months of age. Nevertheless, she lived an exemplary life. Here are some of her views on limitations. “Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it.” “Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved.” “No pessimist ever discovered the secret of the stars or sailed an uncharted land or opened a new doorway for the human spirit.”
I recently attended a seminar with Jack Canfield, co-author of the Chicken Soup for the Soul books series, one of the most successful series in history. Canfield's first book was rejected 144 times before he found a publisher.
One of my sisters learned how to swim faster when she climbed the ladder of success in General Motors back when being a female leader was tantamount to having your wings clipped. As she entered management, she was regularly harassed by pitiful men who did their best to intimidate and harass her. As one of the early female Foremen in her plant she was once asked to attend a large meeting of her peers. At one point, one of the men came behind her and pulled down her pants to her ankles in front of all the others. She proceeded to kick him where it hurts most, left the room, and was never bothered by those managers again. In her words, “If you are going enter a den of lions, then you must play by their rules, and you’ve got to be tough.” Though gender bias was rampant, she gained respect by not backing down or whining about her situation. Later she even changed her obviously female first name to one that appeared more masculine because she was often adversely judged by men reading her emails and letters. As a result, they didn’t know they were communicating with a female. My sibling is an overcomer who adapted. She rose through the ranks and ended up a Buyer in what was the largest corporation on earth. Wings or no wings, she learned how to fly.
If you have received an immunization to the Corona Virus, one of the key scientists responsible for its development is Kizzmekia Corbett. Corbett is a thirty-five-year-old African American who is one of the few female black scientists working at this high level. She grew up in North Carolina in a large family with several step and foster siblings. Neither gender nor racial hurdles have throttled this brilliant woman’s drive. In 2021, Kizzmekia received a distinguished Franklin Institute Award for her work towards this endeavor. Concerning the reception of this award Franklin Institute reports,
Corbett herself has taken on a prominent role as a vaccine educator, reaching out especially to communities of color, which have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 and have long suffered from healthcare disparities. As one of the most highly visible African-American scientists in the fight against COVID-19, Corbett feels she has a special role. She works to bridge the gap between vaccine science and public understanding by explaining the science to address people’s concerns. “For a long time, we left the general public on the outside of vaccine development, until it was time to give them their shot. And that’s just unacceptable. I can’t even blame anyone for being skeptical about this, because they don’t have any idea what went into it,” Corbett said in an interview with Nature. To get the word out, she often virtually meets with church and school groups, engages with news media outlets, and creates online videos. Corbett also volunteers her time in schools as a role model for children from under-resourced communities, encouraging them to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and math.
(Franklin Institutes Awards Newsletter, March 2021; https://www.fi.edu/laureates/kizzmekia-s-corbett).
Everyone gets their wings clipped in one way or another. So, what challenge stands before you? Will you choose to adjust and adapt to each new current that threatens to veer you off course, or will you just float downstream quacking. The choice is yours.
Maybe you just need to learn to swim faster.
Live Inspired!
Don Mark
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