The Weight of Gravity

I spent this morning watching a hawk circle the park near my apartment. It didn’t seem to be looking for anything in particular; it was just riding the air, turning in wide, lazy loops that made the world below look small and inconsequential. I found myself holding my breath, wondering what it feels like to be that untethered. We spend so much of our lives anchored to the ground, worrying about the next step or the weight of our own choices. We are constantly fighting gravity, both physical and emotional, trying to keep our feet planted even when the wind is pulling us in a different direction. There is a strange, quiet envy in watching something that has finally let go of the earth. It makes me wonder if we are only truly free when we stop trying to control the path and simply let the current carry us where it will. What would it feel like to stop fighting the pull?

Oscar Garcia has captured this feeling of soaring in his photograph titled Blue Angels. It perfectly mirrors that sense of defying the earth beneath us. Does looking at this make you want to take flight, too?