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.
