The Most Celebrated Inspirational Fable of Our Time

When I was straight out of school I learnt of the book “Jonathan Livingston Seagull” by Richard Bach.

?This Novella (longer than a short story but shorter than a novel) could be easily read in 30 minutes, but since I am a slow reader, it took more time for me.

?During some conversation a few days ago, I remembered the book and obtained another copy. When the book arrived, I realized that after some 40 years, it was far more appealing to me today than it was in my younger days.

?Jonathan Livingston Seagull is a bird that wants to fly higher than the flock. He tries and tries but fails and is often overtaken by the feeling that it is best to be one of the flock.

?A voice tells him that a seagull never flies in the dark. They were never meant to do so or else they would have the eyes of an owl. They would have short wings like a falcon.

?And then it dawns on him that short wings have to be the answer and he pulls up his wings and flies on just the tips along short wings. He climbs 2,000 feet above the black sea; 140 miles per hour and then 5,000 feet from where fishing boats appear little specs in the blue water. It was a breakthrough and he thought that his flock would celebrate.

?On the contrary, the elders of the council outcast him for being recklessly irresponsible and violating the traditions of the gull family.

?Once an outcast, he spend his days alone and was sad that the said gulls refused to believe the glory of flying. He learnt new things each day. A highspeed flying would get tastier fish. He learnt to sleep in the air covering vast distances and found a new meaning to his life.

?Then came two gulls that glowed in the night air and told him that they were his brothers and had come to take him higher.

?He was next in heaven or atleast he thought so and there he met the elder gull who taught him how to work with time till you fly the past and the future and know the real meaning of kindness and love. Chang’s last words were “Jonathan keep working on love” and then Chang disappeared.

?Jonathan taught other outcasts. “Each of us is in truth an idea of the Great Gull, an unlimited idea of freedom,“ Jonathan would say in the evenings on the beach, “and precision flying is a step toward expressing our real nature. Everything that limits us we have to put aside. That’s why all this high-speed practice, and low-speed, and aerobatics...”

?When Jonathan suggested that they return to the flock there was a protest. “We are not ready!”. “We’re not welcome! We’re Outcast! We can’t force ourselves to go where we’re not welcome, can we?”

?Despite the anguish Jonathan led the way to go back to the hostile flock to teach them his newly learnt skills and one by one the students from the hostile flock turned to him.

?Towards the end, there is a beautiful conversation between him and Fletcher and Fletcher says how can you manage to love a mob of birds which is just trying to kill you and Jonathan responds “Oh, Fletch, you don’t love that! You don’t love hatred and evil, of course. You have to practice and see the real gull, the good in every one of them, and to help them see it in themselves. That is what I mean by love, It’s fun, when you get the knack of it.”

Jonathan taught us how to soar higher and to try and excel despite the opposition. How your thoughts overcome the vastness of time and space. How to teach and pay back what you have learnt and lastly, how to show kindness and love even to those who want to kill you.