If you put a buzzard in a pen six or eight
feet square and entirely open at the top, the bird, in spite
of his ability to fly, will be an absolute prisoner. The
reason is that a buzzard always begins a flight from the
ground with a run of ten or twelve feet. Without space to
run, as is his habit, he will not even attempt to fly, but
will remain a prisoner for life in a small jail with no top.
The ordinary bat that flies around at
night, a remarkable nimble creature in the air, cannot take
off from a level place. If it is placed on the floor or flat
ground, all it can do is shuffle about helplessly and, no
doubt, painfully, until it reaches some slight elevation
from which it can throw itself into the air. Then, at once,
it takes off like a flash.
A Bumblebee if dropped into an open
tumbler will be there until it dies, unless it is taken out.
It never sees the means of escape at the top, but persists
in trying to find some way out through the sides near the
bottom. It will seek a way where none exists, until it
completely destroys itself.
In many ways, there are lots of people
like the buzzard, the bat and the bee. They are struggling
about with all their problems and frustrations, not
realizing that the answer is right there above them.