The Day the Seagull Won
At precisely 9:17 a.m., a seagull landed on the lighthouse railing and announced that humanity had been getting life completely wrong.
This was unusual for three reasons.
First, seagulls do not normally speak.
Second, this particular seagull had somehow acquired a tie.
Third, the villagers listening to him immediately agreed.
“Your entire species,” said the seagull, adjusting the tie, “has become obsessed with finding meaning.”
A fisherman frowned.
“Isn’t meaning important?”
“Of course,” said the seagull. “But you’ve made it sound like a lost set of car keys.”
The crowd exchanged nervous glances.
The seagull continued.
“You search for meaning in careers. In relationships. In books. In philosophies. Some of you even search for it in motivational quotes written over photographs of mountains.”
Several people looked guilty.
“Meaning is not something you find,” said the seagull. “Meaning is something you bring.”
A silence settled over the harbour.
“What does that mean?” asked a baker.
The seagull sighed.
“It means feeding your dog can have meaning.”
“It means writing a story can have meaning.”
“It means drinking tea while watching rain hit a window can have meaning.”
“It means that if you’re waiting for life to become meaningful before you start living it, you’re standing outside the restaurant waiting for permission to go in.”
The crowd nodded.
The baker nodded.
The fisherman nodded.
Even the lighthouse nodded, though nobody ever explained how.
The seagull spread his wings.
“Now,” he said, “if there are no further questions, I must return to my primary occupation.”
“Which is?”
The seagull looked toward a tourist holding a sandwich.
“Petty theft.”
And with that, he flew away.
The villagers stood in thoughtful silence.
Then the baker said, “That might be the wisest thing I’ve ever heard.”
The fisherman nodded.
“Strange.”
“What?”
“That wisdom arrived disguised as a seagull.”
The fisherman smiled.
“Maybe it usually does.”
Sometimes, the profound arrives, wearing a tie you weren’t expecting. Sometimes, it steals your sandwich immediately afterwards. Both can be true.
