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Copyrights reserved by the author. If you are in doubt, please click on 'Copyrights' and read the details. Foreword. As a boy, my home life was not the happiest it could have been. My mother married 5 times and for the most part married losers and alcoholics. My real dad left us when I was a lad of six and I was the oldest of 4 boys and one girl. It was pretty much up to me to watch over them. I have always envied "Perfect Families," if such a thing exists! I envied them so much so that I swore to myself I would always be there for my children. Sometimes I have made mistakes but so far I have at least been there for them. My oldest just graduated and my youngest will, in 3 years. Most of my life, I have dealt with depression in some form or another. I think perhaps I am overly critical of myself. Outside I apply humor a lot, to mask "The Me" inside. 'Learning To Fly' is the part of me that longs to be free and happy for a change. If I could make a wish, it would be that all of us never suffer from a lack of love in our hearts! Having children gave me a part of that. I only hope I have taught them correctly. *****
Learning To Fly! by Elad Nostaw
As a boy he used to run a lot. Running set his heart free. No one could touch him while he was running. He was the fastest around, of all the children in his neighborhood, and in his poor neighborhood, sometimes running was a necessity. Anytime there was trouble, he ran. He ran from the neighborhood bullies and gangs. He ran from the Drug Dealers. He ran from his father, who drank excessively and was too strict. In his heart there was a secret hiding-place that he ran to. When he was actually running, he was in it. He could soar! On this day he was running home, through a field where the construction workers had piled up dirt, with their massive tractors and dozers. After an exhausting run, he sat down by himself on one of them, to relax and catch his breath. It was there that he noticed the birds at play. Several birds, not yet able to fly, were learning from their parents. They could fly for short distances but nothing past that. He watched in amazement as they took to the skies, time after time. Each time they flew further and further until they had flown far out of sight. He loved that thought. He loved the thought of leaving like that and thought, "Someday, I'll leave the same way. I'll make a better life for my children and me. I'll teach them to fly". With that thought in mind, he stood up and ran into the breeze, arms outstretched. In his mind he was already flying and as he ran thru the breeze, he imagined that he was flying. He would return day after day and watch those and other birds fly. He sketched the birds in flight. He photographed them and watched them with binoculars from afar. He knew every detail of their flight. He even knew most of the birds there, by name. In time, he had children, and he kept his childhood promise to be there for them. He was a great father. He loved his children and did everything with them; they played a lot. One day, he sat them both down in a field, similar to the one he had seen his first birds fly in. He told them about his childhood and how things were. They didn't pay much attention to him then, but he went on anyway. "One day," he said, "I won't be around, and when you feel things are at their worst come here and watch the birds fly. You'll understand then." And they went home.
A couple of years passed and there was a knock at the door. The Police were there when the door opened, and it was very bad news. His single-engine plane had crashed and it seemed there were no survivors. His wife cried and cried for days. His youngest cried too but the oldest boy held it in. Things were going from bad to worse, then the boy remembered his daddy's words. "When things seem at their worse, come here and watch the birds!" With that heavy on his mind, the boy of 15 took his mother and sister to the field where he had played with his dad, just a few years earlier. Once there, they sat and soon enough the birds were flying. Not only were they flying, but they flew really fast and all around them. The son huddled his mother and sister together. "Dad wouldn't want us to dwell on this", he said. "He once told me when you really feel at your worse, and there's nothing you can do about it, learn to fly. I didn't know it then, but I think he was trying to teach me to rise above adversity, and I don't intend to let him down." He kissed his mother and took her, and his sister, by the hand, leading them back to the house. Somehow inside, he always remembered his father's words and, one day, he taught his children how to fly! The End |
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