Next autumn, when you see geese heading south for the winter, flying in a “V” formation, you
might consider what science has discovered as to why they fly that way. As each bird flaps its wings,
it creates uplift for the bird immediately following. By flying in a “V” formation, the whole flock
adds at least 71 percent 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 the
sense of a goose, we will stay in formation with those people who are heading the same way we are.
When the head goose gets tired, it rotates back in the wing and another goose flies point.
It is sensible to take turns doing demanding jobs, whether with people or with geese flying south.
Geese honk from behind to encourage those up front to keep up their speed.
What message do we give when we honk from behind?
Finally - and this is important - when a goose gets sick or is wounded by gunshot, and falls out of
the 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; and only then do
they launch out on their own, or with another formation to catch up with their own group.
If we have the sense of a goose, we will stand by each other like that.
MAKING A DIFFERENCE
My friend was walking down a deserted Mexican beach at sunset. As he walked along, he began to
see another man in the distance. As he grew nearer, he noticed that the local native kept leaning
down, picking something up and throwing it out into the water. Time and again he kept hurling
things out into the ocean. As my friend approached even closer, he noticed that the man was
picking up starfish that had washed up on the beach, and, one at a time, he was throwing them
back into the water. My friend was puzzled.
He approached the man and said. “Good evening, friend. I was wondering what
you are doing.”
“I’m throwing these starfish back into the ocean. You see its low tide right now
and all of these starfish have been washed up onto the shore. If I don’t throw
them back into the sea, they’ll die up here from lack of oxygen.”
“I understand,” my friend replied, “but there must be thousands of starfish on this beach. You can’t
possibly get to all of them. There are simply too many. And don’t you realize this is probably
happening on hundreds of beaches all up and down this coast. Can’t you see that you can’t possibly
make a difference?”
The local native smiled, bent down and picked up yet another starfish, and as he threw it back into
the sea, he replied, “Made a difference to that one!”
A SENSE OF A GOOSE
100 Moral Stories 74
