The idea of flight!!!

I looked up at the clear sky. There were not too many white clumps of vapour or better still, as it is normally called, clouds. The day was sunny and pleasant. Suddenly, I saw an eagle hovering high above. Outlined against the vast expanse of the sky, it looked small and insignificant. But, the sight of the black outline of the bird with the stretched wings, projected a more significant meaning than just a bird in flight. For me, the sight suddenly portrayed freedom!!!

The sight had a lasting impression and made me think about the relation between freedom and flight. Being a born thinker, it was not long before my brain was smoking with thoughts, complicated ones at that. For a start, I remembered that right from the time I started reading and understanding English, I have heard a particular statement which explains freedom aptly.
"He/She is a free bird". It is strange that the concept of freedom linked to a human being who is a social "animal" as we say, is connected to a totally different class of living things. A bird in flight for us, signifies freedom than anything else. The mere concept of flying or floating in space gives the impression of independence, liberation and anything associated with freedom. On the other hand, we tend to give the statement, "He/She is a caged animal" to signify the lack of freedom. Maybe the lack of freedom makes you equivalent to an animal, very much connected to the ground and feeling the surface, while freedom makes you equivalent to a bird, without any physical connection to any surface and just floating along the air.

Moreover, from a literary perspective, flight got a very strong bond with human emotions and character. Writers generally tend to write expressions like "His dreams fly high". So, flight is linked to our thoughts, dreams and imagination. Emotions may run high, but imagination always flies. Have you ever noticed very young kids, who have not really started reasoning things out? They generally tend to throw things and are quite amused by the object rising high in the air. Try throwing the kid up in the air and majority of them would absolutely love it, than being cradled in the arm. I think that is also the reason why kids are so amused by aeroplanes. They can feel or touch other objects as they are on ground and give a better sensory understanding. But, aeroplanes and birds which fly high, are beyond their sensory range and they feel awed by the sight. So, obviously the idea of flight is naturally amusing to human beings.

Moreover, I believe human beings became the most superior race in the world, because of their natural curiosity for the unknown. The curiousity level of the humans must have got to a saturation point, about how the birds flew, when they finally decided to try out the idea. The numerous accidents, some of which were fatal, did not diminish their efforts. The ability to fly was finally available for human beings. But, I believe that the root of all this was the sheer wish to feel free and complete. If you ask a group of people about their sense of freedom, I can easily see many of them choosing flying as an example. So, flight in general epitomized freedom.

I ride on the wings of freedom.......