Waramanga Primary School held an ‘assembly’ once a week in the school hall. All the students and teachers came together to discuss (ie be told by the headmaster) school issues and events. Sometimes there were short plays or skits presented by the students.

As we shuffled into assembly each week, there was this small portable record player on a rickety fold-up table at the front of the room, you know the ones with a detachable lid that contained the speaker. Anyway, every week we would listen the soundtrack from the movie adaption of the book: Jonathan Livingston Seagull.
Every week the same music.

I don’t know who the Livingston fan was, or why they thought we might benefit from repeated exposure to this music. But, it turns out, benefit I did.

“Jonathan Livingston Seagull” is a novella written by Richard Bach. The story follows a seagull named Jonathan Livingston who is bored with the daily squabbles over food and decides to push the boundaries of his flying abilities. He learns to fly for the love of flying itself, rather than just for survival. Jonathan faces challenges and rejection from his flock but continues to pursue his passion for flying.

Through his journey, he discovers higher truths about life, self-discovery, and the importance of following one’s dreams. The book is a sorta philosophical tale that explores themes of individuality, self-improvement, and the pursuit of personal excellence.

You can read a synopsis of the story here.

Later in my life, sometime in early High School, I actually read the book after discovering my dad actually had the soundtrack album. I listened to it again. For the first time. Wow. This is cool.

And, turns out, there was the book, sitting all squished up on the top shelf of our bookcase… all along.

This led me to another of Richard Bach’s books: “Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah” and from there it seems I had developed a particular yearning for discovering what exactly it was that Jonathan Livingston found.

Funny how a simple piece of music can have such consequences downwind.
Funny how our teacher’s ordinary actions have such un-ordinary impact on our lives. Funny how our dads have already been there before us.

I read the book again recently. It seems a little dated and a little schmaltzy.
Perhaps not.
Perhaps I just got a little off my flight path.

Here’s to Jonathan. Here’s to the unknown teacher. Here’s to dad’s doing the hard yards.

And just in case anyone is interested, this is the piece of music I most remember hearing as I walked into assembly.