In March, I watched a PBS show about the Red Knot, a small shorebird with worldwide habitats. It has one of the longest migrations of any bird, migrating 9300 miles from the Canadian Arctic to Tierra del Fuego in South America. During their migration, one leg of the Red Knot?s journey includes a 4-day flight over the ocean, with not a single stop. Because their food source is globally endangered, the Red Knot travels this distance with absolutely no assurance that the food they are in search of, essential to their very survival, will be there when they reach their destination. However, the Red Knot still makes the journey because they have to, and would certainly perish if they didn?t.
After watching this story, I thought about the risks and adventures people take. We make courageous choices for change and growth in life, love and work, often uncertain we?ll find what we hope for. But we make our journeys for the very similar reasons? that the Red Knot makes theirs.
Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature nor do the children of man as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.
–? Helen Keller (1880-1968, Blind/Deaf Author and Lecturer)