Belly Flopping Through Life

I am a massive fan of nature programmes. In particular, I love BBC documentaries with Sir David Attenborough at the helm. My favourites include: "Blue Planet", "Planet Earth", "Life" and many more. Sir David has been doing this for many years now and has become a British institution - one that will eventually be hard to replace.

The latest offering is called "Life Story", which documents the lives of various creatures from birth and it is as incredible as always. The main focus is on how many young animals go through quite considerable trials so they can simply live for the first few weeks of their lives. Some of the things I have seen so far have been remarkable. None more so than the Barnacle Goose.

The documentary followed two geese as they nested their eggs on top of a massive precipice. This particular couple had settled for the safest spot they could find - the top of an enormous rocky chimney. All around this chimney, there were drops of at least a couple of hundred feet, so no predators could ever disturb them there.

This presented a big problem though: Once hatched, their goslings were going to be hungry. Geese eat grass and the nearest feeding grounds were in the valley hundreds of feet below. Somehow, these fluffy goslings who were only a couple of weeks old at best, had to find a way down from their rocky fortress.

"How are they going to do that then?" I thought... Then came one of the most crazy things I have ever seen. The adult geese just took off and left the goslings up there on their own. Honking on their way down, the geese were actually encouraging the fluffy things above to jump. Seriously. So one by one, encouraged by the honking below, the goslings edged towards the drop and lined up ready to dive. It was then that Sir David stepped in with some words of encouragement. He explained that though the goslings can't fly, if they managed to control their descent and go belly first, their chances of surviving the fall were much higher. So basically, if they belly flopped onto a rock it would be better for them... Encouraging.

The first gosling jumped. The cameras followed it as it flapped its pointless furry wings trying to steady itself. Then after a few seconds of free-fall, the gosling bounced belly first off a rock and went into a roll. It eventually came to a halt right by its no-doubt relieved parents, who then looked on as the rest of the brood jumped off, one by one. Of the five goslings who hatched, three eventually made it. That's three more than I and the BBC predicted. They then went down to the meadow and helped themselves to a well-deserved portion of grass.

During dinner this evening, I mentioned to Harriet that there must be an analogy here and I think I found one: In life, we are expected to endure trials in order to reap the rewards at the end. Just like the Barnacle Geese of Greenland, we must leave our places of comfort to work our way towards the grass fields of life. We often find ourselves needing to seemingly jump off cliffs in order to get there and we may often baulk at what faces us as it looks impossible.

We too have people who are down below, "honking" at us. People who have been through what we are going through. They made it, so they know it can be done. With this encouragement, we place our faith in what they are telling us and follow the instructions on how to do it correctly. We flap our under-developed fluffy wings, hoping the things we have been taught will get us down safely and eventually we belly flop, roll and then make our way towards the grass.

I am grateful for those who have influenced me in my life. I have had many people who have honked encouragement at me, helping me get through trials. I have made it this far with that faith and hope to pass it on to others who follow.

It would just be that much cooler if my life was narrated by Sir David Attenborough...

Me with my Chief Honker