Thursday, March 24, 2011

Lessons learned from Johnathan Livingston Seagull

I was grilling some marinated steaks for my son Jeff and I this past Friday night. We splurged! After a busy week it was fun to be home. I had a little more energy than some Friday’s. Instead of dead tired I was inspired to make a “real” dinner with all the fixings, tune out work, and watch a movie.

While I was making sure my math was correct for timing everything I put on some music and ran through my movie library. Mashed potatoes, a fresh green salad, fresh green beans, oh oh... it’s been 8 minutes better check the grill.

I ran out to the deck to make sure I didn’t over cook the first side of that steak when I saw this huge young gull sitting on top of our building 'A' chimney across the parking lot. It’s a totally crappy picture at dusk with my notorious Blackberry, but the point is what it’s about... At first I thought, "why is he here all by himself?" Maybe he's lonely?

Remember Johnathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach, way way back in the 70’s... I know, I’m probably dating myself, but the messages stay with me...

Johnathan is bored with the meaninglessness of everyday basic life concerns. Seized by the passion of flight he has a vision and the expense of that vision is being cast out. Then he transcends to a society based around flight and goes through several lessons to learn that to be free one has to be true to one’s self first. By sharing this personal freedom he realizes that without compassion, forgiveness, and understanding he has no world.

Love, respect, freedom all need to be separated from the myth of obey. The evidence is everywhere today when we witness the happenings especially in the middle east this past month.

Aspire to greatness by doing what’s true to you and share it. That's what makes a difference.

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