The movie Rio is about a macaw parrot Blu, the last male of his species, who was needed to be taken to Rio, so that he can mate with a female, Jewel, to preserve the species.
Blu has been domesticated for 15 years and its effect is that he does not know how to fly. Most of his life he lived inside the store of his owner Linda. His inability to fly becomes his biggest problem when he was set loose in Rio.
A parrot that cannot fly is a funny sight indeed. Or is it?
Blu was made to fly, that is his very bird-iness. But domestication has stripped him of this ability. He has become less of a bird that he was meant to be. This handicapped have limited not only him but his world. While the birds were flying outside, he was stuck inside the bookstore.
On a side note, the bookstore was a good symbol of much of our lives. We have a lot of head knowledge and little experience on realities of life.
Many of us are like Blu, domesticated. We have attached our lives, ourselves to pleasure and convenience that we abhor the practice of virtues. We have become spiritually slothful. We have stopped exercising the wings of our soul. We have become lazy in building our character. Our main objective in life is to have a fun and easy life, and the hell with the rest.
Like Blu, we have chosen to become less than who we truly are. In our laziness, we have compromised the greatness God destined us for mediocrity. "Too much effort" is too much effort for the many of us. Why be virtuous? Why strive for greatness when you can have fun? Why risk it when I can be safe in my own little world?
If you like to stay grounded instead of soaring, then choose mediocrity. Stay trapped in your own little world, your little cage.
But if one wants to soar in life and live life to the full, one must remember who one is. We must remember that we are children of God. As birds are created to fly, we are created to be saints.
So how did Blu learned to fly?
He did when he forgot his fears, his self, his very life.
When Jewel fell from the plane with a broken wing, Blu jumped after her even though he did not knew how to fly. You can say that love pushed him off the plane and into Jewel. It is in this act of love that Blu learned to fly.
It is true with us bipeds as well. Only love can make us fully human. When we forget ourselves and give it to others, we shall find our true humanity. Our life can only soar with the wings of love. To stay selfish is too stay stuck and grounded.
Love as we can see demands risk and sacrifice. Blu took a risk of sacrificing his life to save Jewel. Love is not something that happens in our heads. It is very real, so real that you can touch it, like the cross of Christ. Love without action is not love, it is a silly imagination.
So let the parrot lead you in soaring in life. The high life God has called and made us for.
So start spreading those wings and go love and help your neighbor.