Geese
Have
you ever wondered why
migrating geese fly in a V formation?
As each bird flaps its wings, it creates
an uplift for the bird immediately following.
By flying in V formation the whole flock adds at least
71% greater flying range than if each bird flew on its own.
People who share a common direction and sense of community
can get where they are going more quickly and easily
because they are traveling on the thrust of one another.
When
a goose falls
out of formation,
it suddenly feels the drag
and resistance of trying to go it alone
and quickly gets back into formation to take
advantage of the lifting power of the bird in front.
If we have as much sense as a goose,
we will stay in formation with those who are
headed the same direction we are.
When
the Head Goose
gets tired, it rotates back
in the wing and another goose flies point.
It pays to take turns doing the hard tasks.
As with geese, people are interdependent
on each others’ skills, capabilities,
and unique arrangement of talents and resources.
Geese
honk from behind to
encourage those up front to keep up their speed.
The power of encouragement
(to stand by one’s heart or core values and to
encourage the heart and core values of others)
is the quality of honking we seek.
Finally,
and this is important,
when a goose gets sick, or is
wounded and falls out of formation,
two other geese fall out with that goose
and follow it down to lend help and protection.
They stay with the fallen goose until it is able to fly,
or until it dies. Only then do they launch out on their own,
or with another formation to catch up with their flock.
If we have as much sense as a goose,
we will stand by each other in difficult
times as well as when we’re strong.
Wild Geese
You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting -
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.
~ Mary Oliver
