Monday March 17th: Dodo's Conundrum

There's a song by The Shins called "Australia" which has a line that I just can't get out of my head..."Faced with the dodo's conundrum I felt like I could just fly but nothing happened every time I try." I can't quite pinpoint the exact reason why I'm so caught up on this line, but I definitely am interested in grasping it's deeper meaning.

I think that a lot of people are like the dodo bird or more specifically, like it's wing. Let's just say of the sake of saying "for the sake of" that the dodo bird still existed. Let's take it even further and say that that dodo bird could talk. One more step...and let's say that the dodo bird's wing could talk. If the dodo bird's wing could talk I'd imagine it asking questions very similar to the questions that mankind has asked throughout history: "Why am I here?" and "What is my purpose?" The dodo's wing might see other bird's wings soaring high in the sky...spanning the horizon and it might feel jealous. It looks like it should be able to serve the same purpose, but for whatever reason all that wing can do is look like a wing.

As humans I think that we tend to act a little like the dodo birds wing from time to time. Who hasn't asked why they are here or pondered their purpose? It is so easy to look around us at people who seem to have it all figured out and be envious, but there are no real answers there. Just like if the dodo bird's wing asked an eagle's wing why flight was impossible to him, we cannot figure out our true purpose by asking one another. Of course we can encourage each other to discover our purpose and point one another in the direction that we think will help them, but to know our true purpose we have to look to something greater.

Think about it...you wouldn't ask an invention what it was made for, you'd ask the inventor. In the same way, we have the privilege of asking our Creator what our purpose is. Seems like this "dodo's conundrum" doesn't have to be a permanent state of mind.