When Pigs Fly - Free Clip Art

Copyright 2011

Cartoon-style art of four little pink pigs flying high in a clear blue sky. Original art produced by Jim Sutton. 

What does it mean to say, "When pigs fly?" It means that something (whatever the topic being discussed) is not likely to become a reality. It's as unlikely as the prospect of pigs being able to fly. In other words, "When pigs fly then that will happen." Or become true.

Pigs don't fly. That's a fact. They are not winged creatures. They are not very dainty. On the farm, they tend to become large, fat critters. From which hams, bacon, pork roasts and other such foods are produced. That is, they are heavy, earthbound creatures. I've seen corn fed hogs in Mexico so fat they couldn't even walk.

So why do flying pigs capture the imaginations of so many people? Because people love the idea of making the impossible happen. Or at the very least, witnessing such things happen. And it's a fact that impossible things happen every day. Not because the laws of the universe are so flexible or elastic, but because we often think something can't happen simply because it never has.

I'm not saying that I ever expect to see a pig fly. But I do expect to see people continue to break through the barriers of human imagination (or the lack of it) many more times before I die.

Can a human being fly? Of course we can. Millions of people fly all over the world. Not with organic wings, but with the help of mechanical contraptions. And who knows what the future holds? We may be able, someday, to move through the sky without mechanical contraptions. With devices that alter our use of gravity in ways not yet attempted. It's possible.

Think about it. Our technology, for all it's wonder, is still very primitive. More often than not, we use brute force to accomplish things. We produce motion, for instance, by the use of explosions (internal combustion), fan blades or propellers to beat or twist the air, rubber, plastic, wood or metal wheels. And so on. Even nature itself is far more graceful, as many creatures demonstrate.

Pigs can fly in the same ways we do. They can travel on airplanes, in space craft, in the basket of a balloon, and in other humanly designed contraptions. But they do not sprout wings that be flapped against the air to lift them off the ground. So, for the mean time at least, when something is not possible or so highly unlikely as to not be probable at all, we can continue to say, "Sure it can happen. When pigs fly."

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