ONE DAY TRIP IN GRADO (SEA RESORT NEAR TRIESTE,ITALY):
SEAGULLS’ LESSON
On
a Sunday afternoon, laying on a comfortable bench right where the flat sand
shows the beginning of a row of bathing establishments, I happily idle and enjoy
a nice, spring sunshine. In front of me, on the right, 3 or 4 solid mooring
piles, driven in the shallow and soft sea-sounding and normally utilised to
moor little ships overnight or for a quick stop. On the left side there is a
landing wharf starting from the promenade and stretching for about 70meters
to the open sea.
Suddenly my glance is attracted by a pair of seagulls, mother gull and puppy
gull, I guess. I observe the little gull all intent on wallowing on the sea-surface:
accompanied by his frequent screeches, he looks a bit clumsy but joyful. Mother
gull is flying about 3or 4 meters above him and constantly encourages him to
swim, to move on sea-surface and then to fly up…or at least, so I guess
to understand.
This mother gull appears concentrated in a real marathon of dedication, a
dedication soaked in a lovingness – convincing and tiring at the same
time- that only motherly role can support. It seems she is never fed up of teaching:
she gives the impression she wants to offer her baby all her experience by exhorting
the little gull to grow-up. Then, he will be able to face the future autonomously
and with confidence.
Does anybody remember the famous seagull described in Luis Sepulveda’s
novel, who had a cat as nurse and teacher?
Puppy
gull does show his willingness to follow mother’s teaching, yet he finds
it hard due to the innate fear common to all puppies. Thus, he keeps on with
his screech, a sound that is joy, fear, hesitation, all at once. At a certain
point, mother gull is so exhausted that she has to rest for a few minutes laying
on one those mooring piles driven in the sandy sea sounding. She needs to take
a breath, to recover energies.
Meanwhile, moving slowly on the sea-surface and with his mother never taking
her eyes off of him, puppy gull is getting closer, next to the end of the wharf.
There is where, after a while, mother gull joins her little son and starts again
with her teaching efforts.
What a great example, wonderful mother gull! How many of us human beings do
show such a dedication, such an endless patience and unconditional love nowadays?
In front of my eyes I believe I have a lesson for the mankind of this 3rd millennium,
a mankind considering itself rich and fully satisfied but who is instead poor
and weak. Actually, it’s easy to acknowledge signs of such a precariousness,
of a clear lack of sensitivity and lovingness. Just listen to what happened
right during this sunny afternoon at the seashore!
At
the end of the landing wharf, there are people standing, they are certainly
no little boys. They are a bunch of adults who have been observing the gulls
as I was. But once the wallowing of the 2 beautiful birds takes place closer
to them, these gentlemen have no better idea than throwing wooden boards at
the gulls. Frightened the birds have to fly away. This cruel and useless behaviour
has definitively made me sad, has given me thoughts and also a sense of shame.
Yet it could not dim the pleasure of the day spent in Grado and, in particular,
the admirable example given by the seagulls.
May 2003
Rocco Boccadamo
Lecce – Italy
e.mail: rocco_b@libero.it