Flying Kites

It was one Saturday lazy afternoon when my wife and I decided to bring the kids out for a stroll in the nearby park famous for its vast land area and one-stop recreational and leisure spot hosting a lot of kiddie rides, walk pathways, outdoor-steel basic exercise equipments, performance stages and a kite-flying quadrangle with trimmed green grasses that dual as picnic ground.

As my son Zek holds and marvels at our kite that flies steadily around 50m above us, two adult men caught my attention as they each attempt to fly their kites in stark and contrasting ways. The former was running in every direction and pulling his kite with all his might to no avail because the kite always falls back to the ground at some point. The latter was standing still and as soon as he felt the strong gust of wind he immediately changed his position in opposite direction of the wind. One swift push up of his kite and it was flying in no time.

Two lessons came to my mind.

Firstly, ignorance or inexperience is a hindrance but a self-righteous pride can spell disaster in our lives. The first man was eager-beaver to make the kite rise and exerted much effort without really even asking other nearby kite-flyers or, at the very least, looking around on how to do it properly. He ran, and ran, and ran until he was totally exhausted and needless to say, humiliated in front of the many amused people who witnessed his futile efforts. The second man knew how to do it because he learned it earlier from somebody else either by asking or, at the very least, by mere observation of how to do it. Oftentimes, we would rather fall flat on our face later than to humble ourselves in the beginning.

Children have parents.
Students have teachers.
Workers have supervisors.
Apprentices have mentors.
Trainees have coaches.
Married couples have each other.
Parishioners have priest.
The list goes on.

May we have the humility to ask from those whom we trust and the open-mind to see the wisdom in other peoples’ counsel.

Secondly, kites fly and rise higher against wind. Adversity makes us stronger. Trials refine our spirits. Tribulations make us better persons. Suffering makes us stronger. Make calculations aimed at avoiding problems but never treat failure as end-of-the-line situations rather as stepping stones to improve ourselves.

There is one earthly goal for most of us – to grow in faith, hope and love.
The right attitude for learning and responding to challenges can very well determine how high our life can reach and fly.