Today’s Thinking Out Loud reflection on Richard Bach’s, Jonathan Livingston Seagull.
Jonathon Livingston Seagull finds himself ostracized and banned from the flock. He doesn’t sulk, he decides to keep following his dream.
What he had once hoped for the flock, he now gained for himself alone; he learned to fly, and was not sorry for the price that he had paid. Jonathan Livingston seagull discovered that boredom and fear and anger are the reasons that a gulls’ life is so short, and with those gone from his thought, he lived a long fine life indeed.
Note: Paying more attention to other people than to ourselves and trying to control their lives instead of worrying about our own life creates a great angst both for the other person and for ourselves. Instead of criticizing those who are different from us why not encourage them? Why not look at our own lives and discern what it is that we are meant to do and be. I think what we are meant to do and be is something that is always evolving. What we were meant to be at one stage in our life will not be the same at another stage of our lives. Wise people understand this and adjust and adapt and continue to learn and grow. And those who don’t, like the gulls in the story, discover that their lives are filled with boredom and fear and anger.
When you’re up against a trouble,
Meet it squarely, face to face;
Lift your chin and set your shoulders,
Plant your feet and take a brace.
When it’s vain to try to dodge it,
Do the best that you can do;
You may fail, but you may conquer,
See it through!
Black may be the clouds about you
And your future may seem grim,
But don’t let your nerve desert you;
Keep yourself in fighting trim.
If the worst is bound to happen,
Spite of all that you can do,
Running from it will not save you,
See it through!
Even hope may seem but futile,
When with troubles you’re beset,
But remember you are facing
Just what other men have met.
You may fail, but fall still fighting;
Don’t give up, whate’er you do;
Eyes front, head high to the finish.
See it through!
“Why am I afraid to dance, I who love music and rhythm and grace and song and laughter? Why am I afraid to live, I who love life and the beauty of flesh and the living colors of the earth and sky and sea? Why am I afraid to love, I who love love?” ~ Eugene O’Neill
NOTE: If you’re waiting to enjoy life, one day it will be too late. You’ll have lived without ever having lived. Enjoy the dance of life. Enjoy all the wonderful things life has to offer. A day spent not enjoying life is a day that can never be recaptured. ENJOY LIFE NOW!
Today’s Thinking Out Loud reflection on Richard Bach’s, Jonathan Livingston Seagull.
“Why, Jon, why?” His mother asked. “Why is it so hard to be like the rest of the flock, John? Why can’t you leave low flying to the Pelicans, the albatross? Why don’t you eat? Son, your bone and feathers!”
“I don’t mind being bone and feathers, mom. I just want to know what I can do in the air and what I can’t, that’s all. I just want to know.”
“. . . This flying business is all very well, but you can’t eat a glide, you know. Don’t you forget the reason you fly is to eat.
Note: We hear the words, “Why is it so hard to be like the rest of the flock” throughout our lives if we try to be different. If we try to be different in the workplace people question us. If we are the only person to ask why, people will look at us and wonder what is wrong perhaps we need a psychological evaluation. It takes courage to move away from the crowd. It takes courage to be an independent thinker and to act on what one believes is the correct course of action. Great ideas usually don’t come from the group, they come from the edge where group members seldom visit.
Beginning today I am reading and reflecting on Richard Bach’s, Jonathan Livingston Seagull. Enjoy the passages I select and the reflections I make on the passage.
Seagulls, as you know never falter, never stall. To stall in the air is for them disgrace and it is dishonor. But Jonathan Livingston seagull, unashamed, stretching his wings again in their trembling hard curve — slowing, slowing, and stalling once more — was no ordinary bird. Most gulls don’t bother to learn more than the simple facts of flight — how to get from shore to food and back again. For gulls, it is not flying that matters, but eating. For this gull though, it was not eating that mattered, but flight. More than anything else Jonathan Livingston Seagull loved to fly.
Note: What is it that your heart is calling you to become? Have you heard the call? Or, are you so busy with a life others planned for you that can’t hear the call? The call is like an echo, it is always there bouncing around inside of you. Occasionally you’ll catch a glimpse of it. It takes courage to stop and listen to the call and then to embrace it and follow it wherever it takes you. Find your quiet space and listen to your call.
“You have to die a few times before you can really live.” Charles Bukowski
What a wonderful quote. No one likes to fail or suffer. We like to get it online and get delivered to our door. That may be the way business works in contemporary society. it’s not the way life works. Each time we walk through the fire in our lives, we gain lessons. Life is shaping us to become what we are destined to become. Our only part in this play is to learn the lessons life is teaching us and to love what we are becoming. When we do, the suffering ends and living begins.
