Tuesday, May 22, 2007

籠鳮有食湯鍋近,野鶩無糧天地寬 / Born Free

Several days ago, I watched an old movie called "Born Free" in which the main characters raised three orphan cubs, sent two to the zoos, but eventually set the third one free. It was a real story that spoke, in essence, against animals in captivity.

After watching the movie, I wonder whether the same concept applies to humans. Sometimes, we can be our own captives because of our inability or unwillingness to shift our paradigm on career, relationship, materialistic goods, etc. I am not advocating running into the wild, living "off the grid" like a hermit, or turning ourselves into Buddhist monks/nuns. The majority of us need to earn a living to sustain the basic necessities of life, support our families, and seek meanings in life. I am talking about people who hate their jobs, feel entrapped in unhealthy or abusive relationships, or cannot get off the materialistic treadmills. There are so many excuses for not making changes in life that they remain in that state of perpetual despair and eventually grind themselves to a miserable halt.

As the Chinese saying goes:

『籠鳮有食湯鍋近』 The caged chicken is so preoccupied with the daily feed, that it does not notice the boiling water near-by.

『野鶩無糧天地寬』 The wild duck is not guaranteed its daily meals, but it is free to fly all over the world.

In closing, I would like to share with you the lyric of the theme song of "Born Free".

Born free, as free as the wind blows,
As free as the grass grows,
Born free to follow your hearts.

Live free, and beauty surrounds you,
The world still astounds you,
Each time you look at the stars.

Stay free, where no walls divide you,
You're free as a roaring tide,
So there's no need to hide.

Born free, and life is worth living,
But only worth living 'cause you're born free.

8 comments:

xiao zhu said...

一套老戲,一首老歌。戲沒有看過,但知道故事很感人,中文名字是"獅子與我"。非常好似這首歌。

跟隨著心志,自由翱翔!

xiao zhu said...

typo:非常喜歡這首歌!

Haricot 微豆 said...

Xiao Zhu: 好歌不厭百回聽,由其是老歌。

「... 跟隨著心志,自由翱翔!」您頗有江湖兒女的風度呀!!

Haricot 微豆 said...

I wonder whether someone has put this song on YouTube.

xiao zhu said...

哈,以前也有朋友戲謔,如果我生於古代,定必是那些天涯任闖、鋤強扶弱的俠女。其實是笑我任性、笑我好管閒事!

「跟隨著心志,自由翱翔!」但這也真的是我的所想。

看看甚麼機緣,可以翱翔到八千里外,站到路邊為你的馬拉松打打氣! ^_^

P.S. 網上我也找不到這首歌呢。

Ruth Tam said...

I feel trapped in my own trap.

Haricot 微豆 said...

哈,好打不平,那就不是女中英傑嗎?

還有三天就是馬拉松,会記得有人在八千里外打氣,魚雁常通,心領了:)

Haricot 微豆 said...

Ruth: Be strong and hope you can break out of the vicious circle !!! ps: See my next blog as well.

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