The Six Attributes of Daring

by Leah Penniman

Simon Holzapfel is currently visiting Darrow alumni and families in Asia has invited Leah Penniman to be a guest blogger.

Notes: 1. This story is modified from The Brave Little Parrot by Rafe Martin, which appears in The Hungry Tigress: Buddhist Myths, Legends, and Jataka Tales (Berkeley, California: Parallax Press, ©1990) and was originally delivered as a speech at The Darrow School on October 6, 2018; 2. Attributes of daring borrowed from Melanie Greenberg, Ph.D., “Six Attributes of Courage,” Psychology Today, (August 2012)

I may be one of the least daring people you’ve ever met. I’m not audaciously bold or courageous; you will never see me parachute out of a plane; I don’t like rollercoasters; I don’t even like ladders.

Most of my friends are also risk-averse rule followers, but I have one daring friend who is a parrot; a Buddhist parrot, to be precise. Long ago this parrot friend of mine was born in a forest in Indonesia, and all was well. He had a great life with abundant food.

One day a storm fell upon his forest home. There was lightning, thunder crashing, and a dead tree caught fire due to the lightning. A small spark from the fire was caught up in the wind and soon the entire forest was ablaze. Terrified animals were running wildly in all directions, crying out in fear, and seeking safety from the smoke and flames.

The little parrot was crying, “Fire! Fire! Everyone get to the river and save yourselves.” He flapped his wings and flew into the fury of the storm, rising higher toward safety. Looking back he realized that most of his friends could not fly. They were trapped, terrified, and surrounded, which brings us to the first attribute of daring:

1. Feeling fear yet choosing to act

“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear but the triumph over it. The brave person is not she who does not feel afraid but she who conquers that fear.”
— Nelson Mandela

The scared parrot came up with a desperate idea. He darted to the river, dipped himself in the water, and flew back over the now raging fire. The heat rising from a burning forest is like a furnace; the thick smoke makes breathing unbearable. There was a wall of flames shooting up on one side and then the other, and crackling flames leapt up his feet. But still he rushed through the mad maze of fire and flew on bravely. When he was over the center of the forest, he flapped his tiny wings, and a few crystal gem droplets of water fell down onto the fire and disappeared. The parrot flew back once more through the flames to the river, dipped himself in, and went back to the burning forest. Back and forth he flew, time and again, from river to forest, from burning forest to river. Which brings us to the second attribute of daring:

2. Persevering in the face of adversity

“A hero is no braver than an ordinary person but she is braver five minutes longer.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson

And so the little parrot persevered, back and forth. His feathers were charred, his feet were scorched, his lungs ached, his eyes, stung by smoke, turned red as coals. His mind spun as dizzily as the spinning sparks. But he flew on, even as he suffered. Which brings us to the third attribute of daring:

3. Face suffering with dignity

“The ideal human bears the accidents of life with dignity and grace, making the best of circumstances.”
— Aristotle

At the same time that the parrot was trying to save his friends, the devas — gods of the happy realm — were floating overhead in their cloud palaces of ivory and gold. They happened to look down and saw the little parrot flying among the flames. They pointed at him with their perfectly manicured, perfumed hands and, between mouthfuls of honeyed foods, they exclaimed mockingly, “Look at that foolish bird! He’s trying to put out a raging forest fire with a few sprinkles of water!” And they laughed at the absurdity.

But one of the gods didn’t feel so great about the cackling and mocking. He changed himself into a golden eagle and flew down, interrupting the parrot before he got to the flames.

With eyes like molten gold the eagle looked at the parrot and said in a solemn and majestic voice, “Go back, little bird! Your task is hopeless. A few drops of water can’t put out a forest fire. Cease now and save yourself or you will die.”

But the parrot kept going, even as the heat grew fiercer and he could hear the great eagle above him calling out, “Stop, foolish little parrot! Save yourself! Save yourself!”

Between coughs, the parrot sputtered, “I don’t need a great shining god eagle to tell me this. My mother would have told me the same thing. I don’t need your advice. I need your help.” Which brings us to the fourth attribute of daring:

4. Standing up for what is right

“Speak your mind, even if your voice shakes.”
— Maggie Kuhn, social activist

And so the great eagle, seeing the parrot continuing on, suddenly felt guilty about his own privileged kind. There they were, the carefree gods, laughing and talking, while many animals cried out in pain and fear from the flames below. And he grew ashamed. His heart opened and he wanted to be brave and helpful like the little parrot. Which brings us to the fifth attribute of daring:

5. Following your heart

“It takes courage … to endure the sharp pains of self-discovery rather than choose to take the dull pain of unconsciousness that would last the rest of our lives.”
— Marianne Williamson

The eagle decided to take courage and follow his heart, and said, “I will help!” He was so overwhelmed with shame and compassion and the love that he felt, that he started to cry. Stream after stream of sparkling tears poured from his eyes; they flushed down cooling rain upon the fire, upon the forest, upon the animals, and upon the parrot. This was something none of the other devas had done before. Which brings us to the sixth, and final attribute of daring:

6. Letting go of the familiar

“Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.”
— Anais Nin

The eagle’s divine tears put out the entire fire and saved the animals. When the tears touched down onto the glowing cinders, new life pushed forth in the forest. When they touch the parrot’s singed feathers, bright, beautiful new feathers of red, green, and yellow emerged.

All the animals looked at one another in amazement and gratitude and gave thanks to the parrot and the eagle.

What I learned from this parrot is that daring isn’t so much about roller coasters and skydiving, nor is it about a reckless selfishness. Rather, daring is the courage, boldness, and bravery to live at the intersection of our individual wholeness, truth, and accountability to our community.

Leah Penniman teaches Environmental Science at The Darrow School. She is also the co-founding executive director of Soul Fire Farm, in Grafton, New York, and the author of the newly published book, Farming While Black (Chelsea Green Publishing, 2018).