Have you seen this video that’s been making its way around the internet for the past few years of the lady who befriended a big fat fuzzy bumblebee that had no wings? It’s probably something I saw on The Dodo. It’s this really sweet relationship that developed where this lady finds and then takes care of a bee that has lost its wings—feeding it nectar, making it comfy little beds, talking to it, basically treating it as a beloved pet. It’s sweet and beautiful and showcases the kindness that people are capable of.
Another delightful animal-human friendship can be seen between a featherless male lovebird named Blondie and his owner, another young woman. Blondie is very small but he has a huge personality. He runs naked through the apartment, watches the rain out the window, and does other adorable things, his nubby featherless wings held out like a toddler might hold out his arms to steady himself.
I also recently saw a video of a green macaw that had been adopted by a young lady and was at first very scared and aggressive because of previous owners. Though his flight feathers had grown, he didn’t know he could fly because he had never learned. By the end of the video, of course, he was flying longer distances without a lead and he was, by all accounts, happy and well adjusted.
The concept of “clipped wings” is not novel in storytelling. Books and movies and tv shows are littered with characters who could do great things if they only believed in themselves. They often have trouble trusting others because they’ve been burned before. At some point someone convinced them that they couldn’t: couldn’t play the game, couldn’t hit the mark, couldn’t sing, couldn’t dance, couldn’t have a successful relationship, couldn’t hack it in that career, couldn’t compete with the big dogs, etc.
We love those stories because they’re underdog stories. They’re stories we can relate to because, unfortunately, at one time or another most of us have probably been underestimated, pushed down, ridiculed, or even physically limited in some way such that we could not get up the confidence or develop the skill needed to succeed.
So let’s dive into this common theme and see if we can come up with some interesting and unique angles, shall we?
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