#1062 pecking

In the center of our campus is an atrium, with a 70 foot high vaulted glass ceiling.  Occasionally, a bird enters the enclosure and frantically flies from one end to the other trying to get back out.

Last week, one such bird was perched on a pipe by the window, pecking away in a vain attempt to escape. It obviously couldn't comprehend "glass" or "windows" and did not have the intelligence to go back out the way it came in. I know a bird doesn't have the capacity for reasoning, but I kept thinking of how frustrating it would be to see your freedom and have no knowledge on how to reach it.  

Contrast that with humans, who do have the capacity to see alternatives. Yet, many times humans know that what they are doing is not working, but still keep pecking at the window anyway.

If you find yourself on one side of the glass when you'd rather be on the other, take advantage of having a brain bigger than the bird's and use it to develop options to change your fate.  Take advantage of your rank in the pecking order and stop pecking away.

-- beth triplett
leadershipdots.blogspot.com

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