Blog Post #15: Geese

Geese. As humans, we are more similar to them than we think. Today I was taking a stroll around my campus pond for the million and oneth time this week, when I witnessed something that gave me hope (the thing with feathers). I was watching a group of newborn goslings sitting on the water bank with their parents, except one was still in the water. It kept trying to climb up the muddy slope, but each time, it fell back down. Other geese were in the water behind it, watching intently. The slope was too steep, and each time it flapped its little wings and tried to climb up, it would topple back down into the water. Like a small tennis ball, dusted with dirt, it bobbed and then swam back to the bank to try again. After about five minutes, it started to swim away. I thought it had given up. Another geese lowered its neck and poked at the tiny gosling. Alarmed, it zoomed away. In a large circle it swam, until eventually the gosling regained the strength (and courage) to try again. It went to another part of the bank, but that was too steep as well. Eventually it returned to the original location. It flapped its wings, pulling the air with all its might, and a tiny body leveraged itself up to join the rest of the family. Watching that made me wonder why the parent geese didn’t help the gosling up. But deep down I knew that only through trial and error would the baby learn how to climb the bank of the pond, and that the second and third time might be a little easier. By the fifth time, perhaps climbing up the bank would be a piece of cake. I feel like that gosling a lot of the time. Trying desperately to climb up, only to fall back down time and time again. To take a quick rest break and come back stronger. The important thing is not that we climbed up the bank last, or that we dirtied ourselves with mud in our many attempts. The important thing is that we continue to climb, on our own time, learning all along the way.