Looking Up

Both Hannah and I look upwards.

Hannah watches birds, butterflies, moths, and airplanes. I watch birds, the moon, planets, and stars.

One evening when we were walking in the township park, several wedges of Canada geese decided to land in a nearby field. They announced their descent with raucous honks and a flurry of wings back-peddling the air in preparation for landing. When the first wedge approached, Hannah jerked her head upward to identify the onslaught of noise, trying to decide whether to run or watch. She weathered the first group only to see a second wedge approaching...and a third...and a fourth.

To Hannah, a goose is a goose is a goose.... Ironically, shortly after Hannah had her first experience with landing geese, a friend sent me this wonderful analogy.

LESSONS FROM GEESE

Dr. Robert MacNeish

FACT 1 - As each Goose flaps its wings it creates an uplift for the birds that follow. By flying in a V-formation, the whole flock adds 71 per cent greater flying range than if each bird flew alone.
LESSON - 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.

FACT 2 - When a Goose falls out of formation, it suddenly feels the drag and resistance of flying alone. It quickly moves back into formation to take advantage of the lifting power of the bird immediately in front of it.
LESSON - If we have as much sense as a Goose we stay in formation with those headed where we want to go. We are willing to accept their help and give our help to others.

FACT 3 - When the lead Goose tires, it rotates back into the formation and another Goose flies to the point position.
LESSON - It pays to take turns doing the hard tasks and sharing leadership. As with Geese, people are interdependent on each other's skills, capabilities and unique arrangements of gifts, talents or resources.

FACT 4 - The Geese flying in formation honk to encourage those up front to keep up their speed.
LESSON - We need to make sure our honking is encouraging. In groups where there is encouragement, the production is much greater. The power of encouragement (to stand by one's heart and encourage the heart and core of others) is the quality of honking we seek.

FACT 5 - When a Goose gets sick, wounded or shot down, two Geese drop out of formation and follow it down to help and protect it. They stay with it until it dies or is able to fly again. Then, they launch out with another formation or catch up with the flock.
LESSON - If we have as much sense as Geese, we will stand by each other in difficult times as well as when we are strong.

THE PLEIADES

When I lived on Georgana Farm, I used to lie on the stone wall by the barn on clear nights and look upwards. I always wondered what I was seeing. The only constellation I could identify was the Big Dipper. This fascination with the cosmos never left me. In 2002 I met a wonderful man who taught me about the sky. He would set up his telescope in my backyard so I could view Saturn, Mars, Venus, and Jupiter. He challenged me to find the Great Nebula and the double star in the Big Dipper. The first time I saw the Pleiades through his telescope I was profoundly moved. Even today the Pleiades still moves me to tears.... my teacher is no longer a part of my life, but he left a wonderful legacy. When I am up with Hannah in the middle of the night my favorite companions are Orion, the moon, the Pleiades, and the bright morning star Venus. Indeed, I recall seeing this extremely bright and clear light in the early morning of September 2002 and asking my friend what it was. "That, my dear, is Venus," he said. "At this time of year when she rises in the east, she is called the morning star."

"Many a night I saw the Pleiades, rising thro' the mellow shade,
Glitter like a swarm of fireflies tangled in a silver braid."
- Alfred, Lord Tennyson, 1837-8, Locksley Hall