Many years ago I read Carl Naether's book on pigeons. I found his stories and information on types fascinating. He described those having a flock that was not up to par in their flying ability. Their birds needed a "fitness trainer". They would get an American High Flier pigeon. Different countries have their own types.
When the birds were released this bird would take the lead and give them a real workout. It would fly higher, faster, and longer than the others were used to. Soon the whole flock gained strength and endurance.
When I was a little boy, still learning to read, a teacher asked us if we read newspapers. I was amazed at the question. Newspapers were for adults! Yet one of my friends held up his hand. That afternoon I spread the daily paper on the rug and tried to read it. You can imagine how little I could read or understand.
Later in high school we had a new student in our class, a real brain. I found that he knew the symbols for the chemical elements. This really sparked my interest. How dare he show me up like that! I was a real egomaniac. So I began to learn the symbols too.
Little did I realize then that people were shaping me up with their superior abilities. I learned not to resent them, but to learn from them.
The new student introduced me to H.G. Wells and The Time Machine, still one of my all-time favorite stories. I was into Poe, so we swapped, I guess. I remember Wells saying, "There is no instantaneous cube" to prove that time is a dimension. My brain tingled with that one.
Years later I read a volume of Pater Mundi that helped turn my life around. The old timers were like bloodhounds that kept after you until you had no place to hide. The author's proofs of God were relentless and inescapable.
These were some of my "High Flyers" that helped me to learn to fly.
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