A physician regularly walked home through a field every evening after he had finished his house calls. His home lay underneath the path of migratory birds who spanned the sky while they flew to their respective destinations. He loved birds and often watched them closely when they flew overhead, trying always to observe their migration.
Late one afternoon, the physician was tired after a long day but insisted on walking home rather than accepting a ride from a patient’s son. As he strolled through the green countryside, he caught sight of two birds who were flying rather low, as if separated from their flock. They looked unusual, not the common birds who normally flew overhead at this time of year. He became curious and focused closely on this pair of birds.
They looked odd flying together for sure, because they were two different breeds! The physician had never seen anything like it and, after positively identifying the species, thought the matter through. He wondered to himself, how is it possible for the heavenly goshawk to fly with the earthbound owl? Why would a bird who belongs in Paradise accompany a bird who essentially belongs among the ruins of the earth?
Soon, the birds began to descend, preparing to land not far from where the physician had stopped to watch them. As they landed and began to hop toward what might have been a cluster of worms on the ground, the physician noticed that both birds were limping!
He had wondered how it was possible for two completely dissimilar birds to become companions, and now he had his answer: that were both lame in one leg, and that had become their binding factor! The poor goshawk, having suffered what appeared to have been a nearly fatal injury, had stooped to the level of the graveyard owl, abandoning his former majesty.
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