Jonathan and George

It is a usual day, sky is quiet, water cold and morning busy. Other gulls have started fetching fish. Looking for food and eating seems to have taken most of their lives. As they briskly dip their beaks inside water, hardly ever missing, they seemed to have ignored their wings. The wish and strength to fly has gone past recall or desire.

Is it odd that when I see the water i see my reflection more vividly than food. That when the ocean wind hits me, I feel it first on my wings then my eyes. That i hear no quacking of gulls  just the gushing of wind and roaring of water. Almost urging me to fly.

I know my wings haven’t been tested nor the strength of my legs ever measured, but would the strength of my heart count for something i wonder. Would power of a simple belief help me glide through the resistance air would offer. I don’t know but shall that stop me from trying. Could it be that the only thing standing between me and flying is the courage to jump from that cliff.

Sometimes i feel that the warmth of the sun, the thrust of the wind is talking to me, When i press my legs against the ground I feel as if its pushing me up. It is possible that I am making all this stuff up. That I am being blinded by my love for flight. But then isn’t it better to be blinded by a dream than prejudice. Jonathan stares at the horizon and then at his friends, George in particular. He had always thought that George was like him more eager to grasp the span of his wings than to  clutch them inside. But George has made a choice. And he seems happy. Happy to be part of a group, and doing what gulls do best. Catch fish.

Then suddenly George looks back. He appears full, but not content. Quiet but not calm, his eyes seem to have lost some spark. Have we all, already made our choices? or can we change them. Do we know which choice is better. Shall we even bother? Amidst this mental turmoil, unknowingly he turns and starts walking, he can not feel his legs anymore until they bring him to the cliff top. So this is it, he thinks, this is my choice.

He looks at the sky, the water and his friends one last time. He knows that if George could see him now, he would be happy, and for sure his eyes would be shining. After all that was a dream they had both shared once. Jonathan closes his eyes and spreads his wings, and spontaneously smiles a little, he doesn’t know why he made the choice he did, or was he destined to make it. But in that moment with his wings spread apart he feels fearless and worthwhile, and with nothing but a dream in his heart he jumps.