In Defense of the Crow – Why the Underdog Wins the Fight Against the Eagle

Posted bystenoimperiumPosted inAI and the Legal System, Court Reporting, Judicial Ethics Watch, SITCTags:, , , , , , , , ,

We’ve all heard the story:

“The crow pecks at the eagle. The eagle doesn’t fight back. It just soars higher until the crow suffocates and falls away. Lesson? Ignore your critics. Rise above. Don’t engage.”

It’s an inspiring little fable—if you’re the eagle. But what if the eagle is not a symbol of wisdom and strength, but of fraud, manipulation, and unchecked arrogance? What if the crow isn’t just an annoyance, but a whistleblower, a truth-teller, the one with the courage to expose the predator for what it really is?

The story changes. And so does the moral.

The Crow Is Not a Nuisance—It’s a Watchdog

Crows don’t peck for fun. They peck because they’ve seen danger. They rally against threats bigger than themselves to protect their community. They are intelligent enough to remember faces, warn others, and even teach the next generation to avoid predators.

That’s not annoyance. That’s strategy. That’s survival. That’s truth-telling.

When a crow takes on an eagle, it’s not because it’s petty. It’s because the eagle has taken too much, deceived too long, or threatened the balance of the skies.

The Eagle’s “Ascent” Is an Illusion

In the parable, the eagle never fights back—it just rises higher until the crow falls away. Admirable, right? Not so fast.

Sometimes “rising higher” is just running from accountability. Sometimes silence is not wisdom, but cowardice. The eagle doesn’t silence the crow with dignity—it relies on altitude, optics, and image to escape being exposed.

But here’s the truth: not every crow falls off. Some hold on. Some peck harder. Some rally a whole murder of crows that chase the eagle from the sky. And contrary to the myth, crows are not limited by thin air—certain members of the crow family, like the alpine chough, are among the highest-flying birds on Earth. They nest above 21,000 feet and have been recorded soaring with mountaineers at nearly 27,000 feet, far higher than eagles are known to endure. In fact, they hold the distinction of the highest-flying corvids ever recorded.

The crow doesn’t gasp for breath in thin air. The crow thrives there.

Why You Should Side With the Crow

The eagle looks majestic in paintings, on flags, in motivational speeches. But majesty without integrity is just manipulation with wings.

The crow isn’t trying to look noble—it’s trying to be noble. To warn others. To expose the liar. To protect the vulnerable. To say: “Don’t be fooled by feathers and posturing. See the truth.”

The crow doesn’t need glamour. The crow has grit. The crow has courage. And the crow is relentless.

The Real Lesson

Don’t dismiss the crow because it’s loud. Don’t idolize the eagle because it’s pretty.

Ask yourself: Who is actually telling the truth? Who is actually defending the flock? Who is willing to fight when silence would be easier?

Sometimes the bravest thing you can do is side with the crow.

Because in the end, it’s not the altitude that suffocates the crow—it’s the truth that brings down the eagle.

If you side with the eagle, you’re siding with appearances. With manipulation disguised as majesty. With dominance that hides deceit.

If you side with the crow, you’re siding with courage. With intelligence. With the uncomfortable.

StenoImperium
Court Reporting. Unfiltered. Unafraid.

Disclaimer

“This article includes analysis and commentary based on observed events, public records, and legal statutes.”

The content of this post is intended for informational and discussion purposes only. All opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are based on publicly available information, industry standards, and good-faith concerns about nonprofit governance and professional ethics. No part of this article is intended to defame, accuse, or misrepresent any individual or organization. Readers are encouraged to verify facts independently and to engage constructively in dialogue about leadership, transparency, and accountability in the court reporting profession.

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Published by stenoimperium

We exist to facilitate the fortifying of the Stenography profession and ensure its survival for the next hundred years! As court reporters, we've handed the relationship role with our customers, or attorneys, over to the agencies and their sales reps.  This has done a lot of damage to our industry.  It has taken away our ability to have those relationships, the ability to be humanized and valued.  We've become a replaceable commodity. Merely saying we are the “Gold Standard” tells them that we’re the best, but there are alternatives.  Who we are though, is much, much more powerful than that!  We are the Responsible Charge.  “Responsible Charge” means responsibility for the direction, control, supervision, and possession of stenographic & transcription work, as the case may be, to assure that the work product has been critically examined and evaluated for compliance with appropriate professional standards by a licensee in the profession, and by sealing and signing the documents, the professional stenographer accepts responsibility for the stenographic or transcription work, respectively, represented by the documents and that applicable stenographic and professional standards have been met.  This designation exists in other professions, such as engineering, land surveying, public water works, landscape architects, land surveyors, fire preventionists, geologists, architects, and more.  In the case of professional engineers, the engineering association adopted a Responsible Charge position statement that says, “A professional engineer is only considered to be in responsible charge of an engineering work if the professional engineer makes independent professional decisions regarding the engineering work without requiring instruction or approval from another authority and maintains control over those decisions by the professional engineer’s physical presence at the location where the engineering work is performed or by electronic communication with the individual executing the engineering work.” If we were to adopt a Responsible Charge position statement for our industry, we could start with a draft that looks something like this: "A professional court reporter, or stenographer, is only considered to be in responsible charge of court reporting work if the professional court reporter makes independent professional decisions regarding the court reporting work without requiring instruction or approval from another authority and maintains control over those decisions by the professional court reporter’s physical presence at the location where the court reporting work is performed or by electronic communication with the individual executing the court reporting work.” Shared purpose The cornerstone of a strategic narrative is a shared purpose. This shared purpose is the outcome that you and your customer are working toward together. It’s more than a value proposition of what you deliver to them. Or a mission of what you do for the world. It’s the journey that you are on with them. By having a shared purpose, the relationship shifts from consumer to co-creator. In court reporting, our mission is “to bring justice to every litigant in the U.S.”  That purpose is shared by all involved in the litigation process – judges, attorneys, everyone.  Who we are is the Responsible Charge.  How we do that is by Protecting the Record.

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