9.12.2008

"I like birds" - Eels

Something occurred to me the other day, as I was standing outside a bird flew overhead.  While watching it struggle in the wind I realized it was a great analogy of life.
This bird was struggling in fairly high winds to stay on course. The wind was blowing it away from its course time and time again. Yet it would fly right back to attempt to continue its course.
About this time, I realized that this little bird struggling against the wind was a lot like we are. Even though it knew where it wanted to be and how to get there. It was constantly being blown off course and in response it kept fighting its way back to where it wanted to be.
This is a lot like life. We may know where we want to go, and we may also understand the course that we need to follow to get there but all of the knowing and understanding of the world will not save us from being blown off our path.
And we have more than wind, inclement weather, and an occasional predator or airplane to worry about. There are so many possibilities that just about anything can happen to us and blow us right off that path.
The scariest part of being blown off of our path and getting knocked on our asses is that we can just give up. The only person who we let down in the end is ourselves, but if we choose not to be blown off our path permanently and we dust ourselves off and get back on our path instead we can achieve great things.
Watching that little bird made me realize that I'd let the wind blow me clear around the world. And I hadn't even noticed it. I just went with it. I accepted it.
Don't get me wrong, excepting reality is a great thing to be able to do. If you can accept reality, then you're not usually tied into a bunch of irrational beliefs and are not always feeling hurt by getting let down, because you're not attached to ideals you don't need.
But... Excepting reality doesn't mean you need to give up on your life either.
Somewhere along the way of the last several years. I have really lost sight of who I am and who I wanted to be.

Thanks to that little bird... I'm going places!