Mind over Mallard

I just watched the cutest cartoon with my son that had a powerful message.

Mind over Mallard


This duck named Bill had a big dream of flying. He kept dreaming at night of flying. He was curious and wondered, "Why can't ducks fly if they have wings?" His good friend Cecil the duck and him pondered whether ducks are physically cabable of flight. Cecil believes that it is all in their minds. He thinks, "What if our ancestors were well fed and got comfortable and didn't need to fly so they forgot how? In other words it was in their thinking. If you can overcome all the eons of negative thinking and build up your self confidence, you could fly! All it would take is determination and a little coaching."

So Bill said "I'll do it, All my life that's all I ever wanted! I want to fly! If it's just my thinking that stops me from flying, I can change my thinking so I can fly!"

His friend agreed to help him and find out for himself if this concept was true. So Bill began listening and watching positive videos of birds flying in the air and kept telling himself outloud, "I can fly, I can, I can!" And repeating this over and over. He trained and tried to get mentally prepared by using headphones with positive messages constantly and telling himself he could fly.

Then the day came when Bill was ready to fly. So he went with Cecil to the edge of a cliff. He looked down and saw the ocean and gulps. Cecil encourages him and says, "You can do it, I know you can!" Bills says to himself, "I can fly. I can fly. I can, I can!" And just as he was about to jump a crow comes (His name is Raul but I prefer the name "Obstacles").

Obstacles asks Bill, "Did I just hear what I think I heard? Did you say you can fly?" Bill replies, "That was me, you heard right." And the crow starts laughing at Bill hysterically. Cecil tells Obstacles to go away. But instead, Obstacles tries to convice Bill that ducks cant fly and how it's never going to happen. Bill musters out the courage he has left and says, "I can fly, I can, I can!" and jumps off the cliff, and falls straight down into the ocean. When he emerged out of the water he told Cecil, "I almost did it, I almost flew but the instant I jumped I panicked! Maybe what I need is a lift."

His friend thought about this and had an idea. We can strap you onto a big balloon and once you're in the air and in the right state of mind, I'll release the strap and you can fly.

So the next day, they went back to the cliff. The duck was strapped on to the balloon and was high in the air. Then the crow shows up again and shouts "Wait! he gets out his binoculars and his popcorn and sits on his lounge chair. Okay, that's better, go on." He didnt want to miss the show.

"Ignore him, you'll wipe that smile off his beak" Says Cecil.

Bill tries his best to ignore the crow and says to himself outloud, "I can fly, I can, I can. I can fly, I can, I can!" And then the string rips, the balloon popped and Bill couldnt remove the strap. Obstacles the crow sees him struggling and laughs. Once the balloon deflated, Bill fell straight down into the water. He hears the crow in the background just laughing his head off.

That night Bill and Cecil couldnt sleep. Cecil calls Bill on the phone and Bill says, "Maybe we were wrong, maybe ducks cant fly." Cecil tries his best to encourage Bill and tells him he has another idea.

The next day, they go back to the cliff. This time he brings a big sling pointed towards the ocean. Obstacles the crow brought all his friends this time and they're sitting on the bleachers. One of them is selling corn and cold drinks.

Bill hears them talking about how birds fly because they have no choice. They're mom pushes them out of the nest and it's fly or die. Bill thinks they have a point, "Maybe, if I knew I could not have a safe landing, my survival instincts will kick in and I'll be able to do it" So he points the sling towards land. Cecil is worried he can get hurt on the rocks but Bill still wants to do it. He tries to prepare himself mentally, "I can fly. I can!"

The crow walks up to Bill and says, "Look, so far this has been really fun, but you can really hurt yourself I mean look at all those.."

Bill doesnt let him finish and says, "I CAN!" and releases the sling and off he goes.

Obstacles says, "Man, he's one dead duck" He flies after Bill.

Suddenly Bill excitedly says, "LOOK AT ME I'M FLYING!" And he's in the air. Obstacles flies right next to him and says, "Excuse me, but this isnt flying. You are in an updraft that can lift a refridgerator."

"I can fly. I can fly. I can, I can!" Bill says

Obstacles continues.. "And see, the trouble with updrafts is... they dont last"

Suddenly the updraft stopped and Bill went straight down. Then he sees himself flying again, "I'm flying!"

When he woke up he was in an ambulance. "I'm flying!" he says still thinking he was in the air.

"Calm down Bill, you'll be okay. You're on your way to the hospital" Says Cecil. The paramedic asks, "What was he doing up there?" Obstacles the crow was right there and says, "That crazy duck was trying to fly"

Bill says, "Not trying... I flew. I really flew! Maybe it was just an updraft, I dont care. For a few seconds I FLEW!"

The ambulance driver closed the door to the back, goes to his seat and says, "He's really out of it. Everyone knows ducks cant fly."

Wow! I loved this story! He realized his dream and it didnt matter what the critics said or thought about him. He worked hard and made it happen!


YES! I actually found the cartoon online, you can see it at:
http://www.fancast.com/tv/Sitting-Ducks/96457/595474247/Mind-Over-MallardThe-Fly-Who-Loved-Me/videos