Birds in Flight

I came across a most spectacular sight the other evening.
It was a flock of birds, very large ones - they could be
cranes, I'm not sure. They must be on their way to their
night resting place.

What surprised me was that they were flying in a V-formation
reminiscent of geese in flight. A quick count came up with
forty-four of them. Such an awesome sight!

By the way, do you know why geese fly in a V-formation?
There is a lesson we could all learn here. How's this
for some introspection.

In the fall when you see geese heading south for the winter
flying along in the "V" formation, you might be interested
in knowing what science has discovered about why they fly
that way. It has been learned that as each bird flaps its
wings, it creates uplift for the bird immediately following.
By flying in a "V" formation, the whole flock adds at least
71% greater flying range than if each bird flew on its own.
People who are part of a team and share a common
direction get where they are going quicker and easier,
because they are travelling on the trust of one another
and lift each other up along the way.

Whenever a goose falls out of formation, it suddenly feels
the drag and resistance of trying to go through it alone
and quickly gets back into formation to take advantage of
the power of the flock.
If we have as much sense as a goose, we will stay
in formation and share information with those
who are headed the same way that we are going.

When the lead goose gets tired, he rotates back in the
wing and another goose takes over.
It pays to share leadership and take turns doing
hard jobs.

The geese honk from behind to encourage those up front to
keep their speed.
Words of support and inspiration help energize
those on the front line, helping them to keep pace
in spite of the day-to-day pressures and fatigue.
It is important that our honking be encouraging.
Otherwise it’s just – well honking!

Finally, when a goose gets sick or is wounded by a
gunshot and falls out, two geese fall out of the
formation and follow the injured one down to help and
protect him. They stay with him until he is either
able to fly or until he is dead, and then they launch
out with another formation to catch up with their group.
When one of us is down, it’s up to the others
to stand by us in our time of trouble. If we have
the sense of a goose, we will stand by each other
when things get rough. We will stay in formation
with those headed where we want to go.

The next time you see a formation of geese, remember...
IT IS A REWARD, A CHALLENGE AND A PRIVILEGE
to be a contributing member of a TEAM.