When Jonathan Seagull joined the Flock on the beach, it was full night. He was
dizzy and terribly tired. Yet in delight he flew a loop to landing, with a snap roll just
before touchdown. When they hear of it, he thought, of the Breakthrough, they'll be
wild with joy. How much more there is now to living! Instead of our drab slogging
forth and back to the fishing boats, there's a reason to life! We can lift ourselves
out of ignorance, we can find ourselves as creatures of excellence and intelligence
and skill. We can be free! We can learn to fly!
The years ahead hummed and glowed with promise.
The gulls were flocked into the Council Gathering when he landed, and apparently
had been so flocked for some time. They were, in fact, waiting.
"Jonathan Livingston Seagull! Stand to Center!" The Elder's words sounded in a
voice of highest ceremony. Stand to Center meant only great shame or great honor.
Stand to Center for Honor was the way the gulls' foremost leaders were marked.
Of course, he thought, the Breakfast Flock this morning; they saw the Breakthrough!
But I want no honors. I have no wish to be leader. I want only to share what I've
found, to show those horizons out ahead for us all. He stepped forward.
"Jonathan Livingston Seagull," said the Elder, "Stand to Center for Shame in the
sight of your fellow gulls!"
It felt like being hit with a board. His knees went weak, his feathers sagged, there
was roaring in his ears. Centered for shame? Impossible! The Breakthrough! They
can't understand! They're wrong, they're wrong!
"... for his reckless irresponsibility " the solemn voice intoned, "violating the dignity
and tradition of the Gull Family..."
To be centered for shame meant that he would be cast out of gull society, banished
to a solitary life on the Far Cliffs.
"... one day Jonathan Livingston Seagull, you shall learn that irresponsibility does
not pay. Life is the unknown and the unknowable, except that we are put into this
world to eat, to stay alive as long as we possibly can."
A seagull never speaks back to the Council Flock, but it was Jonathan's voice
raised. "Irresponsibility? My brothers!" he cried. "Who is more responsible than a
gull who finds and follows a meaning, a higher purpose for life? For a thousand
years we have scrabbled after fish heads, but now we have a reason to live - to
learn, to discover, to be free! Give me one chance, let me show you what I've
found..."
The Flock might as well have been stone.
"The Brotherhood is broken," the gulls intoned together, and with one accord they
solemnly closed their eyes and turned their backs upon him.
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