Learning to fly

Life is such an awesome responsibility. Heavy with the weight of the past, fraught with anxiety about the future, and the continuous pressure of the present, so many trudge along in confusion trying to look like they know where they're going, gone, and are. We see lives lived greatly, mightily that give us hope in our own future. We hope to see such greatness in our own lives. But what about those great people? They certainly looked like they walked with surety.

The lives of great men and women, those that are truly great in mind and deed, are so because they use the wisdom of the past and live in the present, hoping for the future. They recognize their place in the cogs of eternity's clock, and just try their best to fulfill it. Gandhi would certainly be recognized as great, and yet he lived only with what he needed for the day, without storing up great security for his future. He did what he felt was required, and let that be enough. Abraham Lincoln was often weighted down by his choices, but he chose and moved firmly forward, hoping that his choices would create the future he dreamed of.

The Taoists look to nature for truth, and they've got it halfway right. The elements of nature live in the now, but they do not leave the wisdom of the past nor shirk the deeds to secure their future. Little birds learning to fly only get one chance: if they fall out of the nest, they're usually dead (or soon to be). And yet birds learn to fly all the time, stretching their wings when they are big enough, soaring when they are strong enough. They learned to depend on their mother when they are young, when there is no need to fly. When the time comes, they try, they leap, and they sometimes fall. They are not thinking of their future; they only know it is time to fly.

I wish our children were taught in the same fashion. I wish they could stretch out their wings simply because if it time, without worrying about the past or the future. Part of our human thought, however, brings guilt and anxiety too close to be forgotten. And yet, those that fall from the nest also live the fate of humanity: the chance to try again. Perhaps not to succeed at the same task, but maybe, just maybe, if they really want to, to succeed in another place.