It’s official, the world’s in a mess.
No-one’s happy about it, but I can’t help thinking people don’t realise that whatever position anyone takes, whatever view or position we trust, we are actually on the same side.
We want to be free. We want to be healthy, we want love and prosperity. We want the best for our kids. And we all dream of a better, brighter future. Right?
Perhaps we don’t understand the extent of the mess we’re truly in. Let me try and explain how I see things by way of this short story.
The Dragon and The Birds
A long, long time ago birds flew freely wherever they liked. The lands were bountiful, and the birds lived in perfect health and there were no threats to their well-being.
Then, one day, a clever dragon, who had disguised himself as a bird, reached out and told the birds that a terrible time was coming.
The birds were worried. They knew this fire-breathing bird was smart, and before long, the birds grew fearful and many birds started agreeing with dragon saying that they had heard similar things too.
So the birds asked him what they should do.
The dragon thought for a while and then told them he would build a huge atrium, to make sure they were protected.
The birds were grateful. The dragon built the atrium and the birds willingly moved in and they did indeed feel safe. But soon they discovered that they could not fly as far, or as high, and the food was not as bountiful and they asked the dragon how long they would have to live in this cage.
The dragon replied that, regrettably, he’d borrowed his magic from a far away land he couldn’t undo the spells. It would take, the dragon said, many thousands of years until the cage would begin to break. But wasn’t it lucky, the dragon told them, that they were safe from the terrible times outside the atrium.
The birds were, once again, grateful, and they continued for hundreds of years, for generation after generation, until they had forgotten what it was like to be perfectly free outside the atrium. And soon all they could remember was life inside the atrium.
As time went on, conditions became more and more cramped, and the birds began fighting — one species against another. They asked the dragon what they should do.
The dragon thought long and hard. Eventually he told them that they should all follow the magpie.
But some of the birds didn’t like the magpie and they told the dragon. So the dragon told those birds to follow the crow.
Other species came along and said they didn’t like the crow or the magpie and so the dragon told those birds to be more like the jay. And the dragon suggested that all birds should model how they lived on these three birds.
The clever dragon knew that jays and crows and magpies didn’t get along and he watched as the birds fought and developed a taste for carrion. As the birds fought he wondered how it was that these clever birds were quite so easy to manipulate. And he realised that if they ever saw through his sorcery all he had to do was make them argue amongst themselves.
Thousands of years passed by. The birds multiplied and cleverly adapted to life inside the atrium. All the while, the dragon and his friends acquired a taste for eating the birds, and the dragon knew that he would never go hungry ever again, for the birds provided him with everything he could possibly wish for.
Yet, over time, the dragon tired of his game with the multitudes of birds. The atrium’s water was barely palatable and the air was thick and heavy with materials he’d blown in to keep them docile. They were now easy to feed upon because they blamed their conditions on one another. But the dragon knew that the magic surrounding the atrium was faltering, so he decided to build a new atrium, one in which the birds would do exactly as he wished without him having to fool them.
You see, many of the birds wearied of hearing the repetitive words of the dragon and realised something wasn’t right. Many began to fly higher towards the ceiling of the atrium finding more and more holes where the magic had worn out. And soon, some of these birds, now fitter and stronger because of their determination to fly, realised that any bird could fly through if they wanted. Even the birds who did not fly could walk to the perimeter to see for themselves what the others were shouting so loudly about.
And these birds discovered that outside, the air was sweet, the water tasted like nectar and the food was plentiful and full of goodness. Besides, when they searched around, there was nothing to harm them. Other birds reported meeting species they had never seen before, and landing on fauna and flora which baffled them as to what they were for.
When they returned into the atrium, they would tell their loved ones how the magic no longer worked and described what they had seen. But the majority of birds ridiculed them and told them no such thing existed. Besides, what could they want which the dragon did not already supply.
The dragon, noticing that his trick was close to being exposed, redoubled his efforts to build the new atrium in which he didn’t want birds who were too old or too undernourished. And besides, while the old atrium was crowded and chaotic, which was how he’d kept them subdued for so long, his new atrium would have just the right amount of birds for his requirements.
As more birds began to strengthen and fly to the broken perimeter of the atrium, they too found that what the others were saying was true and were filled with a whole new energy and excitement. But still, most birds did not believe them, and the dragon continually reminded them that the atrium was the only world, because he knew they did not remember their lives before he had tricked them.
And then the dragon told the birds that another terrible time was coming.
The birds became fearful and asked the dragon what he could do to help.
And the dragon went away and thought awhile. When he returned he announced that he had already developed the perfect antidote to the terrible time.
The dragon gave them his solution and said that it would only protect them if all the birds in the atrium partook, and on condition that no one questioned him, because after all, the dragon had looked after them so well for such a long time and kept them safe.
The birds were grateful to the dragon for all he had done for them and took the antidote without questioning what it really was. And these birds turned on those who told tales about the holes in the atrium. And as a sickness spread amongst them, they began to say that it must have come from the ones who had flown up to the holes of the Atrium.
For those birds who had flown out into the amazing new world, they looked down on the other birds in astonishment.
Was it really so difficult to fly up to the holes and see it for themselves? How had they grown so lazy and reliant on the dragon?
And these people realised the dragon was not a bird and he did not have their best interests at heart.
They began asking why so many birds were sick and dying, even when so many birds had partaken in the dragon’s remedies. And they begged the birds to leave their chicks free from taking the dragon’s remedy. Furthermore, they knew there were simple solutions like fresh air, food and water that made them feel truly alive while flying outside of the atrium.
But the majority of the birds said they had to do as the dragon demanded because the dragon had promised them safety. And they would not even discuss it. Soon, they became impatient with those who were claiming the dragon was not a bird at all, and they blamed these birds for their woes even more, even though many knew it deep in their hearts that they spoke the truth.
And those who had seen the world outside started breaking away from the atrium and planning what they would do in the glorious skies and earth beyond, and they begged the other birds to come with them.
Slowly, the dragon encouraged every bird to take his treatment not just once, but often several times, making them sicker. And soon only the birds who were strong enough to survive willingly entered into the dragon’s new atrium because they could not deny him and because the treatment meant they were no longer birds. They just looked like birds.
And the ones who had taken the time to fly up through the holes in the atrium quickly abandoned their past life and began to settle in the beautiful new world and realised that finally, they were free.
JKE