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The Raven and the Blue Jay
There once was a time, not so long ago, in Central Park New York City, a Raven and a Blue Jay (better known as “Jay”), who were the best of friends. These two were friends ever since they could remember; nest friends as papa bird calls them. While Raven had this combustion of impulsive energy in him, this need to always outsmart and stand out from the crowd. Little intelligent Blue Jay stayed by his side, and always supported him from the shadows.
Raven would always brag about being the fastest flyer in the city. He was recognized as “rapid raven” in Owl High since he was known for his capacity to do every thing faster than anyone else. Jay on the other hand, wasn’t known at all. Since he didn’t prove he was outstanding like Raven so he was practically invisible. Actually, he was outstanding in his own way but nobody noticed. He had the perfect grades and was a great singer. He actually preferred it this way though, his situation caused him no trouble. The mere thought of how fame just alters your ego and morphs you into someone you’re not, gave him the shivers down to his bird bones. He certainly did not want to be like that, however Raven was transforming little by little.
These two were a great pair. They’d do everything together. They would fly to school in the mornings and fly back home in the evenings, sometimes they would even wake up at dawn and go hunting. Even though they had their differences they needed each other, they counted on one another.
One day at school they were asked to do a project, they needed to collect branches and make a nest out of them. Once the head Owl was done explaining the instructions for the project, Raven had already begun the daunting task ahead. He soared through the whole park in a short matter of time, collecting the most branches he could find, of course faster than Jay.
Even if his friend seemed to be way ahead of him, Jay did not panic, and thought the project in a wise and composed manner. Brainstorming first about how he wanted to build his nest and making the physic and mathematical calculations on how much weight he wanted the nest to hold. After his calculations he slowly searched for the specific type of branches he had in mind; small but sturdy.
Raven, like always apparently “beat” Jay and brought in one hundred little tiny branches to their workshop in less than an hour. He started to work on his nest and was already halfway done by the time Jay arrived. Jay on the other hand, only brought fifty branches and started to build his nest patiently.
At the end of the class, the head Owl came to try out their nests. Raven bragged about how fast he had made his nest while Jay just stayed quiet. As the head Owl tried out Jay’s nest, every thing was amazing, he jumped, danced and it was hard as a rock. Once the head Owl stood on Raven’s nest it looked fine, but just as he jumped, the nest crumpled and came down in a rush. Raven stood there quiet and for the first time; and congratulated his best friend.
The moral of the story is this: Real achievement isn’t about who makes it faster, it’s about the final product.
