When they could see again, Chiang was gone.
As the days went past, Jonathan found himself thinking time and again of the Earth
from which he had come. If he had known there just a tenth, just a hundredth, of
what he knew here, how much more life would have meant! He stood on the sand
and fell to wondering if there was a gull back there who might be struggling to
break out of his limits, to see the meaning of flight beyond a way of travel to get a
breadcrumb from a rowboat. Perhaps there might even have been one made
Outcast for speaking his truth in the face of the Flock. And the more Jonathan
practiced his kindness lessons, and the more he worked to know the nature of love,
the more he wanted to go back to Earth. For in spite of his lonely past, Jonathan
Seagull was born to be an instructor, and his own way of demonstrating love was
to give something of the truth that he had seen to a gull who asked only a chance
to see truth for himself.
Sullivan, adept now at thought-speed flight and helping the others to learn, was
doubtful.
"Jon, you were Outcast once. Why do you think that any of the gulls in your old
time would listen to you now? You know the proverb, and it's true: The gull sees
farthest who flies highest. Those gulls where you came from are standing on the
ground, squawking and fighting among themselves. They're a thousand miles from
heaven – and you say you want to show them heaven from where they stand! Jon,
they can't see their own wingtips! Stay here. Help the new gulls here, the ones who
are high enough to see what you have to tell them." He was quiet for a moment,
and then he said, "What if Chiang had gone back to his old worlds? Where would
you have been today?"
The last point was the telling one, and Sullivan was right. The gull sees farthest who
flies highest.
Jonathan stayed and worked with the new birds coming in, who were all very
bright and quick with their lessons. But the old feeling came back, and he couldn't
help but think that there might be one or two gulls back on Earth who would be
able to learn, too.
How much more would he have known by now if Chiang had come to him on the
day that he was Outcast!
"Sully, I must go back " he said at last "Your students are doing well. They can help
you bring the newcomers along."
Sullivan sighed, but he did not argue. "I think I'll miss you, Jonathan," was all he
said.
"Sully, for shame!" Jonathan said in reproach, "and don't be foolish! What are we
trying to practice every day? If our friendship depends on things like space and
time, then when we finally overcome space and time, we've destroyed our own
brotherhood!
But overcome space, and all we have left is Here. Overcome time, and all we have
left is Now. And in the middle of Here and Now, don't you think that we might see
each other once or twice?"
Sullivan Seagull laughed in spite of himself. "You crazy bird," he said kindly. "If
anybody can show someone on the ground how to see a thousand miles, it will be
Jonathan Livingston Seagull." He looked at the sand. "Good-bye, Jon, my friend."
"Good bye, Sully. We'll meet again." And with that, Jonathan held in thought an
image of the great gull flocks on the shore of another time, and he knew with
practiced ease that he was not bone and feather but a perfect idea of freedom and
flight, limited by nothing at all.
Replies
Maybe it’s the highest level of friendship.
Now, I feel that I can touch the story more.