THE SPIRO’S SYNDROME

He could not fly! All the efforts directed to make him fly was excruciating and shameful, for him and for all his newly discovered friends.  It was very surprising and humiliating to other birds of its kind when they discovered that Spiro could not fly! Was it because of a faulty wing? Or was it because of his legs? No, for nothing was wrong with Spiro’s wing or his legs as they were checked by his friends to be perfect. Spiro was neither a hybrid of their type; they knew it couldn’t be, since in all aspect, Spiro’s structure was similar to their own.  What could have happened? That among birds that soar high, Spiro was unusually a disappointment! It was a case of a professor of mathematics who could not find x in a simple algebraic equation

2x=3! Rather he said, why find x when x is already given!

Why was Spiro unable to fly? How could an eagle lost its ability to soar high without any injury? Spiro condition is a new disorder which I call Spiro syndrome.

It is not just about Spiro, because what happened to Spiro was a terrible disease that could also affect human beings! Before I let the cat out of the bag on what type of disease affected Spiro, I will tell you about my encounter this year with this disease of the mind.

I enjoyed the yuletide period very well! I had fun without any emotional baggage of the penultimate year. On the 7^th of January, I decided to pick my pen and plan for the days within the year 2013.

Before I could write any great goal for the year, I decided to review what I wrote down as goals in the beginning of 2012. Alas, the result was devastating! Many of those goals never saw the light of the day. My manuscript did not turn out to a book before 2012 runs out, my………any way, goals are supposed to be personal, you know what I mean. 

After that review, my spirit was brought down, the inferno within was quenched, and my desires were watered down. In a short time, I made up my mind that I would not so much desire much or write down goals this year. I caught Spiro’s disease; I caught the disease of the mind. It was the inertia of the year 2012 about to prevent me from climbing the higher grounds of 2013!

Sorry for taking your time, Spiro though an eagle was unable to fly because he grew up as a domestic animal who never thought it wise to fly let alone discovered his ability to soar high as an eagle. He was taking from the bush as an eaglet, grew up as a pet within the house of his owner. It was sudden and new for him when he found himself in the bush where he actually belonged and realized that he was actually designed to fly.

Rather than fly, the inertias; the force of his background did not allow him to fly. His experiences has never taught him to fly, he told himself, I have never flown before, how can I fly now. His potentials to fly had never occurred to him until now.

So also are many of us. Our failures hunt us down. Our experiences about life are to make us stronger and push us forward, but sometimes, they are like weights that pull us down. Rather than climbing, we are drowning, rather than looking forward, we are looking backward. Experiences of failure in life are to be reviewed and the lessons are to be learned and the mistakes never to be repeated. Spiro syndrome is a disease of the mind. As a man thinks in his heart so is he! Don Juan in his book, the tale of power said “the basic difference between an ordinary man and a warrior is that a warrior takes everything as a challenge while an ordinary man takes everything either as a blessing or a curse.”

I told myself, past failures are to ginger the swagger and not to water it down!

I will never allow the inertias of 2012 to prevent me from climbing the higher ground of 2013.

Spiro solved his problem and I learned from it. Spiro flew at last and I will fly! How?

Firstly, I will locate my position. Review of 2012 achievement is for me to know where I am presently which will determine the level I will take off from in 2013 and ipso facto determine the length of my destination. “The most terrible feature of a mad man is his inability to determine who he is and where he is at a moment.”

Secondly, though the scientist will always say the higher you go, the cooler it is, I will put in more energy even on my higher ground knowing that staying aloft is more demanding than standing on the ground. 

Thirdly, I will change my strategies if the old strategies did not work. Fighting a war in the 21^st centuries is a suicide mission with a samurai sword in the presence of this generation’s technologies.

Then, I will build my hiding place with the manufacturer! Welcome to 2013!!!