Down at the beach this morning I was confronted by a large gull. I say confronted as it showed no sign of flying away or being alarmed until I was almost on top of it. As it soared into the sky with just a lazy flap of it's wings, I suddenly had this recollection of Jonathan Livingstone seagull. This was a very popular story in - I think - 1970. To know the hidden meaning and message of Seagull was very important; it generated a lot of debate when talking to the more serious sort of woman at those boozy parties where the staircase seemed to be the posh persons salon.
Synopsis is basically that most gulls don't bother to learn more than the simplest facts of flight--how to get from shore to food and back again. For most gulls it is not flying that matters, but eating. For this gull, though, it was not eating that mattered, but flight. Flight is the metaphor that makes the story soar. It is about the importance of seeking a higher purpose in life, even if your flock, tribe or neighbourhood finds your ambition threatening. By not compromising his higher vision, Jonathan gets the ultimate pay-off: transcendence. Ultimately, he learns the meaning of love and kindness.
I have absolutely no idea what dragged this story out of the 'filed' section of my brain and allied it to this morning's confrontional gull. I cannot recall having made any reference to Seagull since those days but I only had to do a small Google to set out the synopsis above. Now, if only I could recall that blonde girl's walk into the woods with me in 1953 - I'd be a happy man. But then, none of that is on Google.
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