I want to be the fish that learns to fly

I'm learning to fly but I ain't got wings
Coming down is the hardest thing
I'm learning to fly around the clouds
But what goes up must come down
 - “Learning to Fly,” Tom Petty

Keep the earth below my feet
For all my sweat, my blood runs weak
Let me learn from where I have been
Keep my eyes to serve, my hands to learn

  - “Below My Feet,” Mumford and Sons

“Why must a fish learn to fly or climb?” This was the question presented to me by a person who compels me to delve deeper into my personal life philosophies than most people have ever been able to do. Sometimes I feel like I’m back in my Philosophy 103 class again, sometimes it’s more like a therapy session. Either way, his ponderings simultaneously perplex and entice my inner theorist. So when he posed this question about fish performing stunts completely out of their nature, I had to find my own conclusion. Of course, because my mind is already so riddled with endlessly differing thoughts and emotions on a daily basis, I came up with different answers.

I initially see this as a “knowledge is power” scenario. A fish understands and accepts that she was placed on this earth with a specific skillset and natural method of living. She is the best at swimming and prospers most in a watery habitat, so that is where she stays to live a stable life. However, I believe that that only way one can truly accept and embrace the abilities that have been presented in life, you must seek out and study the perspectives of others. In any situation, discussion, or decision in life, how can you truly argue that your opinion is truly valid and genuine unless you allow yourself to absorb the entire picture? People with a “tunnel vision” perspective disappoint me, as they are content to keep stale knowledge instead of thriving on the accumulation of sparkling new gems of wisdom. Thus, the fish that discovers how and why its neighbors fly or climb is definitely okay in my book.

A slightly different interpretation follows the good old “reach for the stars” motivational posters we teachers so earnestly display on our classroom walls. Any positive teacher will tell her students that they should strive to reach the highest pinnacles of achievement, no matter what the cards they were dealt in life try to tell them. The stars they seek are each very different, but even though they may stray or falter from time to time they must never give up on reaching that prize. A determined fish, though it has no wings with which to fly or limbs to help him climb, will fight to go against his prewritten destiny to carve his own path, no matter what the hurdles. And even he can’t avoid all of the forces of nature driving his life down a particular road, he will be a stronger and far more unique fish than he ever would have been if he stayed put in the water. No matter what we can or cannot do, we must always feed our hunger for the unknowns that will make our lives truly worth living.

Finally, the idea of a fish learning to fly or climb made me think of the less optimistic structure of our current educational system. Our classrooms are rich with diverse life, and whether you have feathers, gills, scales, or fur, your uniqueness should be embraced. However, certain procedures of our system try to squelch any hope for complete acceptance of students’ abilities. I think this is summed up best with the following cartoon: