|
Bill was my friend. We had grown up and gone to school
together, but had not spent much time in one another's
company for some years. Friends may drift apart, but a
childhood friendship is nearly impossible to dissolve.
There have been too many shared experiences-too many
embarrassments in common.
I ran into Bill one day at a local caf?© and he told me a
story. He told me a tale of how a nasty divorce, drink and
the loss of most of his farm had left his life in ruins.
One afternoon he found himself standing on a bridge overpass
looking down onto a busy interstate highway. Bill told me
that he had been drinking heavily and as he drank from a
bottle of whiskey, he contemplated jumping off the bridge
into the midst of the endless traffic below him.
"It didn't seem like I had much to offer the world," Bill
said. "I had lost all that I loved-my wife, my children, my
farm, my self-respect. I hated my life. Nothing was fun
anymore. I had sunk about as low as a man could possibly
sink. I felt I'd be doing the world a favor by ridding it
of me. I actually climbed up onto the bridge railing,
prepared to end it all. I paused to drink the last of the
whiskey remaining in the bottle. Alcohol had become such an
important part of my life that I did not want to leave any
of it behind. As I tipped the bottle up to drain the last
bit, I spotted a Canada Goose, all by itself, flying towards
me. Its head was turning from side-to-side, looking this
way and then looking that way, as though it was searching
for something. I had never paid much attention to geese
before, but this one looked so lonely and pathetic, that I
couldn't take my eyes off it.
???Suddenly, I heard a great honking. I turned my head
slightly and saw a large flock of geese. Their barking
sounds were constant. It was as though they were calling
out to the lone goose. I stood transfixed as I watched the
goose join the flock and fall right into the V-formation.
The goose looked like it belonged-like it had been in that
spot forever. As each goose in the formation flapped its
wings, it created an updraft for the birds that followed. By
flying in a group in a V-formation, their efficiency was
much greater than if each bird flew alone. I watched the
flock fly away. I watched their flight until I could no
longer see it. I climbed down from that bridge. Suddenly
it had all become so clear to me. I knew what I had to do.
???Just like that flock of geese, my friends, relatives and
neighbors had been calling out to me. The flock of people
offered me help for my problems and answers to my
questions. They would be able to uplift me just as the
flock of geese had done for the lone goose. I got off that
bridge and drove my old rusty pickup home. I joined the
flock immediately. I became a member of AA, my local church
and a wonderful service group. I have found that happiness
for me is other people. It took a goose to show me that. I
have never been happier."
?©1999Al Batt
RR1 Box 56A
Hartland,
MN 56042
SnoEowl @ aol.com |
