“Think for yourself or others will think FOR you, without thinking OF you.”
-Henry David Thoreau, Journal, 1837
We never know what splendid delights await us on the sandy seashore. On a recent shoreline walk to an uninhabited beach area on Block Island, a beautiful discovery of life greeted me. First, a seagull mindfully tending to her nest, squawking at me as I sauntered by.
Further along near the rocky shoreline, a gift of becoming…a mama seagull with her three babies. An unexpected surprise!
For as many visits I have made to the east coast, I have never seen baby seagulls. These black and white-ish speckled fluffs of feathers touched me in a curious way. I couldn’t quite grasp the inquisitiveness of my “ruffled feather” feeling. What did it mean?
Seagulls are often not the most welcome oceanside visitors. Try eating a shore lunch on a sandy beach and before you take the first bite of your sandwich, the flock is circling your picnic blanket. Waiting for you to drop a crumb or for a potato chip to spill out of its bag, the gull comes in for the perfect snatch. And it goes unsaid to what else can happen when the circling gulls fly too closely overhead.
Beyond that activity, it seems a rather mundane life. The seagulls continually fly around squawking and scouring not only shorelines for people food, but easily accessible fishing boats for scraps of fish. Not too much more to their lives than that.
But then, there was Jonathan. Jonathan Livingston Seagull. Long ago I read the book with the same name and the sighting of these three new little seagulls prompted the questions, “Will one of them grow up to be just like Jonathan? Will he or she have the courage to leave the security of the dunes and venture out to the unknown wildness of the vast ocean? Was this possibility stirring my feeling of curiosity?”
In the book, Jonathan discovered that there was more to life than merely existing. By flying higher and achieving speeds that seagulls were not “supposed to” obtain, Jonathan found a freedom uncommon among the gulls. And for that, for being willing to stand out (or fly out as the case would be), Jonathan was banned from his gull community.
Criticized and disgraced for trusting his own true nature. Banished because he wanted to grow in his knowledge and continue to fly to higher heights. Degraded because he chose to be his own person and stay true to his values. In a way to me, he is the Henry David Thoreau of the seagull community. Willing to follow his own authentic flight path.
Despite this treatment, Jonathan would not be stopped. He continued to learn, and while he was improving his flying abilities, other lessons were quietly presenting themselves, like the wind under his wings lifting him upward. Along this higher flight path, he was learning to love others, to forgive and to be kind.
Eventually, Jonathan went back to his seagull flock and became an influence in his community, showing the other gulls that there was more to life than grazing at the human’s picnic blankets and fishing vessels. He taught them the eternal virtues that sustain a richer and more meaningful life. Virtues that make a difference. Virtues that are lasting.
What about us? Are we willing to stand up for love, forgiveness and kindness? When others try to pull us down into their own depths of mediocrity, do we have the courage to rise? Do we have the inner strength to answer the call of our own longing?
Thoreau did it. Jonathan did it. Can we do it?
I look again at the picture of the three baby seagulls, my inquisitiveness now clear. They each have the potential to become a Jonathan. We do, too.
Let us look forward together with Jonathan, facing the cresting waves head on. Ready to lift our wings higher to a world of love, forgiveness and kindness.
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What one action can you take today to be more like Jonathan?
What one thing can you do today as an act of forgiveness?
In your daily life, how can you make small acts of kindness a priority?
Jonathan Livingston Seagull is my 2nd favorite Richard Bach book, after Illusions, and both have powerful messages. Your question reminded me of a Buddhist related teaching I never forgot, touch everything with kindness. It’s a wonderful reminder that with even the most mundane of tasks, my intention can be kindness.
It’s been years since I read Jonathan Livingston Seagull and I’m going to pull if off the shelf from Todd’s library and ready it again. We all need a gentle nudge from time to time to revisit the lessons we can learn from Jonathan the Seagull! Thanks Mary Anne!