Asses & Eagles, Which Are You?

Before we get to our nugget of Viking wisdom let’s allow one of Aesop’s Moral Fables to pave the way.

“A man who wanted to buy an ass took one on trial and led him to his stable, where he put him with the rest of his asses. The ass walked away from the others and stood beside the laziest one with the biggest appetite. This was all he did, so the man put a halter on him and returned him to his owner. When the owner asked if he had tried him out in so short a time, the man said: Oh I don’t need to try him; I know he’s the same kind of an ass as the one he chose out of all my asses to associate with.”-Aesop [Daly’s translation.]

Which brings us to our Viking nugget, a phrase that most think originated within Plato’s Republic. It is used in the 1856 Benjamin Jowett translation, but we find this centuries old familiar wisdom in Njal’s Saga where our wise warrior knows of a good shortcut to evaluate both good and bad men, by their chosen company.

“Birds of a feather flock most together.” (Njal's Saga, c.51)

The advice is so familiar we often see it as trite but…truth is truth. 

Our chosen associations reveal much about us. The people and objects and opinions we choose to surround ourselves with reflect our real preferences. 

Your work associates may be friends because of common cause but often you were brought together by dint of paycheck.

Your family often associates by duty of blood.

It is our voluntarily chosen associates that tell much about us.

Our “companions” are also our freely chosen books we read as the association of ideas is often writ large in our characters.

Each chosen comrade, each blog consumed, each video given eye to are the individual feathers that make up the flocks we feel allied to or aligned with.

With this in mind, a useful exercise is to forget what it is you think of yourself and…

Take a hard look at your chosen companions.

Look at the last handful of books you’ve chosen to read to completion.

The last dozen posts or shares you’ve decided to proffer to the world.

Look at your history [virtual and actual] and all the feathers you’ve left.

Do you see the signs of a noble Bird of Prey?

Or do you see a non-purchase-worthy indolent ass entranced by trivia and wallowing in swill?

These feathers will reveal our flock and how the world actually sees us as opposed to what we assume everyone sees.

May we all be birds worthy of joining Njal’s ranks, or, at the very least asses worthy a drachma or two.