Plucking the Eagle's Wings

Plucking the Eagle's Wings

can hear the trudging feet of Roman soldiers beating down the walls of Jerusalem, setting fire to the Holy Temple, capturing Jews, chaining them together like sheep marching to their slaughter. I hear Nero as he declares himself to be God. He conducts orgies and plans the persecution of Christians. Listen as he cries across the chasm of time and eternity to a proud America, "Your immorality will bring you down and carry you to where I now am." Since people pay little attention to history, perhaps an object lesson from nature will make the point and identify the way to overcome. The Molting Period America is in its molting period. Just as eagles experience change during their mid lives, the American eagle is experiencing change. As the eagle experiences this season, it will either renew itself or die in the wilderness. Years ago, I heard a Baptist minister named Bobby Thompson speak on the subject of eagles and their periods of molting. An Indian took Bobby into the heart of the mountains to observe eagles. There, the minister saw five giant eagles that stood on the rocks of a wilderness valley.Their heads hung over to the side because calcium deposits had built up on their beaks and weighed down their heads too much to fly. He noticed that their claws were covered with dried blood. The Indian told him that, as long as eagles fly high, the friction of the wind keeps their beaks smooth, but when they come down to the forest floor and begin to walk around, the deposits build up on their beaks. No one is certain why eagles come down from the high places into the wilderness. Perhaps it is curiosity, or maybe they tire of flying. Soon the eagles lose their appetite and their strength to fly high to hunt for food. Bobby and the Indian watched as eight eagles flew in a circle around the five weakened birds. They began to descend lower, hovering over the five. These birds began dropping pieces of fresh rabbit and squirrel meat to their companions. It was up to the five birds to reach down and feed themselves. The Indian told Bobby, "If they feed themselves, they will gain strength and live. If not, they will die in a short time." Bobby returned several days later to discover that three eagles had died. They did not eat and became so weak that they accepted death over life. Two eagles fed themselves, and gained enough strength to fly

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