Your Assosciates

A story is told of a man who found an eagle’s egg. He put it with his chickens and the mother hens. Soon the egg hatched. The young eagle grew up with all the other chickens. Whatever the chickens did, the eagle also did. He thought he was a chicken, just like them.

Since the chickens could only fly for a short distance, the eagle also learnt to fly a short distance. He thought that was what he was supposed to do. So that was all that he thought he could do. And that was all he was able to do. One day, while they went to the river side, the eagle saw a bird flying high above him. He was very impressed. “Who is that?” he asked the hens around him. “That’s the eagle, the king of the birds,” the hens told him. “He belongs to the sky. We belong to the earth – we are chickens. Immediately the eagle gazed into the river and saw his reflection, nothing different from what had just flown above her; same wings, same claws, and same eyes. All this while, the eagle had lived like the chicken without realizing he was suppose to be flying and not walking. 

Realizing she could do much more than what she had been accustomed to, she decided to separate herself from the chickens and began learning how to fly. Although while trying to fly, she failed on several attempts, but with much perseverance and practice, she eventually soared higher, far above the chickens.

Just like the eagle, everything you are today is linked directly to the people you’ve surrounded yourself with. Association is so powerful such that it determines how far you go in life. You cannot grow more than the people you surround yourself with. You don’t expect to think and grow rich by surrounding yourself with people who think poor. At some point in your life, you must decide who you want to keep and who you want to kiss good bye to.

Imagine someone who aspires to become a musician in the future but surrounds herself with people who are of law profession. For such a person, achieving her dream becomes only a dream- nowhere near reality. Occasionally, you must examine the people in your life. Not that you are better off than them, but for where you are going, you need to walk with the right people- people who fan the flame of purpose within you.

I always tell people, before getting into any relationship, make sure the person you are going into relationship believes in your vision. Why is this important? Associating with someone who doesn’t believe in your vision would deter you from achieving your vision. Someone who wants to become a pastor doesn’t want to get married to lady who would club all night on Saturday and not make it to church on Sunday. Character is everything. Quality and not quantity is what we should look out for. The quality of the people around you determines the quality of life you would have. 

Knowing that evil communication corrupts good manner, choose to walk with people who only contributes positively to your life and bring you closer to goal.

Gracias