There is no doubt that flying, in all forms both metaphorically and literally is a great asset to anyone that possesses it. What happens though when we are confined in this world which has defined laws when it comes to flying? I mean only some species can do it(we are not one of them) and what goes up, must come down.
Follow this line of thought now.
Let’s
start from literal flight.
There is only a small fraction of
people in the world who can hang in the air for a brief time with no
mechanical support. They are all in sports.
We usually refer to
that flight as art. It actually may seem as art because of the
finesse they do it with, but the awful truth is that it is pure
trained skill, with a hint of genetics. It is a product of endless
training and an everyday process, nothing given for free there.
You
see that powerful but artistic dunk in basketball.
You see that
high jump in athletics that seems to defy gravity.
You see the
footballer jump above all to get to the ball.
It is all nice, but they have busted their asses to do it. Although that can be performed as art too.
Let’s look at the airplanes. Man-made piece of technology, pure skill right there from the people that visualized and built it. Pilots go through extensive training to fly those babies, there is no inspiration involved. Up there in that cockpit, you better do what you’re trained to do, otherwise we are all in trouble!
The only ones that get it naturally, are the birds and the animals that were designed by nature to live in the air, and those species too do not fly all of the time. They mostly are on the ground and trees.
Metaphorically flight symbolizes the heights one achieves in life and in any field. One is flying whenever they are at the best state possible, we see them and they seem so carefree and relaxed.
But…
Even after that flight, landing is inevitable.
That is why landing is the true art, not flying,
landing is the only guarantee while flight is the brief exception. We
spend most of our lives landed, not in flight. It is right at that
stage where we have to be the real artists.
An airplane is
designed to get you from point A to point B but if it fails to land
at point B, there is no use for the flight. No matter how great a
dunker you are, if you get injured every time you jump, you are
useless.
If every time you jump over that pole, you land on your
neck, guess what, your career and life is going to be a short
one.
Landing is what it’s most important, it is an art that
assures you that there will be more flights to come.
It is the same in life. You do your flight in whatever you are that you are doing, and when that flight is over, you must make sure there is a smooth landing. Athletes after a career of flight, must lower those wheels and ensure the smooth landing. If the landing is not smooth, the whole process will have been in vain. If the system breaks when it is needed the most, then everything one has achieved, will be turned into dust.
Landing for an athlete is the retirement process. That can be turned into art no doubt, with preparation and by implementing all the practical and mental skills one has developed through the years. When done properly, the result can be a work of art: a successful individual having learned many life lessons, has developed a strong personality and now implementing all of these in a next chapter, leading by example and being a great role model.
