by Carolina Smitten

Created on: December 15, 2010

"Dear God, make me a bird, so I can fly far.  Far, far away from here." 

Can you name that movie? 

I find myself thinking this same sentiment repeatedly.

Times when life gets hard.  Times when I'm up against a trial in my life.  Times when the storms of life are tossing my little boat in a raging sea.

In times like this, I long to be not just any bird, but a goose.  A silly goose.

 I envy the geese when winter is knocking on our doorsteps and creeping up our paths.  They geese instinctively know where to go.  They don't weigh the pros and cons of their decisions.  They don't look at a budget.  They don't talk to a psychologist.  They just do what needs to be done to survive.  Simple, really.

When I hear the geese honking,  it makes my heart happy.  I lift my face to the skies, shield my eyes from the sun, and watch them pass overhead.  They remind me that life keeps on keeping on.  Seasons change. The sun comes up, and hurries back around to do it again.  We are all just in a great big circle or a great big cycle, or a great big hamster wheel.

The geese are leaving to go to their winter homes. They'll get to their sunny destination and wear bermuda shorts and sunglasses, lay on lawn chairs, and drink fancy little drinks with umbrella straws. We'll stay here and forge the long cold winter, endure the icy winds that cut to the bone, and the layers and layers of clothes.

I learned about migrating geese and the formation they fly once upon a time in the oddest of places.  A math meeting. As a teacher, I was assigned to be on a math team to represent my co-workers and help make the oh-so-important math decisions that invariably are shoved into a manila folder and not implemented.  The first meeting was a complete waste of time.  The facilitator taught us how the geese fly.  I sat there while my blood boiled, checking off the list in my head of all the things I needed to be doing, would rather be doing, and should be doing, while appearing thoroughly engaged in conversation.  (It's a gift of mine)  But now, here I am,  7 years later remembering the story. 

Things I remember about geese:
1.  They honk loudly to encourage each other.
2.  They take turns being the V leader.
3.  If another goose gets hurt and needs to fall out of formation, 2 other birds go with him and wait until he recovers or dies, then find another flock to travel with.
4. Each bird flies slightly higher then the one behind to create a draft to help lift and carry the others along.

What lessons can we learn from these birds of a feather?

1.  Maybe we should encourage our fellow sojourners during their journey.
2.  Maybe we should take the lead on occasion to give others a break to put their feet up awhile.
3.  Maybe if we see someone else beating their wings against the gales of life, we should stop and help them out, until they can carry on.


Or.....
Maybe we should all buy shotguns and shoot the
noisy *@&!*@%

Whatever makes the world a better place.

Love and peace,
(and geese)

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