What a wonderful article! Philosophical and lyrical, and at the same time grounded (ouch) in physical phenomena.
I expected some of your paragliding friend's answer, because it has similarities with my experience as a sailor – especially a small-boat sailor without a lot of fancy electronic equipment to measure wind velocity and direction, speed over ground and through water, etc.
As for the wider view of human interaction and understanding, I'm not sure we can know very much at all, other than with those closest to us for longest, and possibly not always then.
Maybe I'm a pessimist here? I rather hope I am, because I'd like to believe that we can truly know each other.
In my own life, I find that trust is hard to build and easily demolished. This seems unfair, but there it is. It needs frequent re-affirmation, otherwise strange and toxic weeds can grow in the cracks in our trust.
The paragliders must be a magnificent spectacle, and I can imagine the marvellous feeling of flying one. There's no power on Earth that would induce me to leave terra firma in anything that didn't have fixed wings and an engine, though. And a highly competent pilot I didn't have to be strapped to the front of, like a human airbag ...
Thank you, Steve. You wouldn't believe, I just returned from the garden where a paraglider landed in the paddock right below me. It's the first time I've ever seen one land near my home. Very coincidental. They must have read my story, haha.
I can see how you'd be very attuned to the wind as a sailor. I am constantly watching it, so I felt a fool for always questioning how paragliders did it. I just kept imaging some invisible gust blasting them out of nowhere! Looks like I've lived enough years to find out, haha.
And I do agree with you that we never truly understand each other. I'd take it a step further to say we never truly understand anything. But interpreting what's around us certainly gives us something to do in this life, and it does make things beautiful in our own little worlds.
Wow! It has a lovely painterly quality - I zoomed in and the parasails look like single multi colour brush strokes. You and I must live in quite similar country, there is a mountain near us that regularly has paragliders :)
That was great, as always. I was thinking a bit like Steve too, about the Polynesian wayfarers and their reading so much in the environment that European navigators had long forgotten, the waves, the currents, the fish, the birds and so much more.
So much to consider about ageing, attention and the layers of experience gained. I was thinking too about reliance on tech tools as opposed to developing skills and becoming a source of wisdom. Great stuff Aria.
When I was a kid I really wanted to do hang-gliding, there were loads of them of the cliffs and over the sea where we lived. Today I'd run a mile to et away from the chance of being strapped to a kite and thrown off a cliff. Things change 🤣
Thank you, Jonathan. That's a lovely thought to have had about the Polynesian wayfarers. Modern living sure had disconnected us from our understanding of the natural world. And yeah, AI. Wow. I find it scary how quickly people have become reliant on it as a source of information, partly because of the loss in ability to think for oneself, but mostly because the inaccuracy of the information is frightening. And it's hard to have a bullshit detector when you've never learnt otherwise. It's on its to teach the next generations as best we can.
What a wonderful article! Philosophical and lyrical, and at the same time grounded (ouch) in physical phenomena.
I expected some of your paragliding friend's answer, because it has similarities with my experience as a sailor – especially a small-boat sailor without a lot of fancy electronic equipment to measure wind velocity and direction, speed over ground and through water, etc.
As for the wider view of human interaction and understanding, I'm not sure we can know very much at all, other than with those closest to us for longest, and possibly not always then.
Maybe I'm a pessimist here? I rather hope I am, because I'd like to believe that we can truly know each other.
In my own life, I find that trust is hard to build and easily demolished. This seems unfair, but there it is. It needs frequent re-affirmation, otherwise strange and toxic weeds can grow in the cracks in our trust.
The paragliders must be a magnificent spectacle, and I can imagine the marvellous feeling of flying one. There's no power on Earth that would induce me to leave terra firma in anything that didn't have fixed wings and an engine, though. And a highly competent pilot I didn't have to be strapped to the front of, like a human airbag ...
Thank you, Steve. You wouldn't believe, I just returned from the garden where a paraglider landed in the paddock right below me. It's the first time I've ever seen one land near my home. Very coincidental. They must have read my story, haha.
I can see how you'd be very attuned to the wind as a sailor. I am constantly watching it, so I felt a fool for always questioning how paragliders did it. I just kept imaging some invisible gust blasting them out of nowhere! Looks like I've lived enough years to find out, haha.
And I do agree with you that we never truly understand each other. I'd take it a step further to say we never truly understand anything. But interpreting what's around us certainly gives us something to do in this life, and it does make things beautiful in our own little worlds.
I love how a “paraglider landed in the paddock right below me” - a kind of acknowledgement from the wind to your deep observations. Many thanks.
Thanks Dianne. It sure was humorously bizarre timing to occur moments after I posted this story. 😆 Wishing you a lovely 2026 Dianne!
A perfect synchronicity. Best wishes to you.
So good, I especially love your painting!
Thanks Gillian. Would you believe, that's actually a photo I took on an old iPhone years ago. Those are really little people up there 🙃
Wow! It has a lovely painterly quality - I zoomed in and the parasails look like single multi colour brush strokes. You and I must live in quite similar country, there is a mountain near us that regularly has paragliders :)
That was great, as always. I was thinking a bit like Steve too, about the Polynesian wayfarers and their reading so much in the environment that European navigators had long forgotten, the waves, the currents, the fish, the birds and so much more.
So much to consider about ageing, attention and the layers of experience gained. I was thinking too about reliance on tech tools as opposed to developing skills and becoming a source of wisdom. Great stuff Aria.
When I was a kid I really wanted to do hang-gliding, there were loads of them of the cliffs and over the sea where we lived. Today I'd run a mile to et away from the chance of being strapped to a kite and thrown off a cliff. Things change 🤣
Thank you, Jonathan. That's a lovely thought to have had about the Polynesian wayfarers. Modern living sure had disconnected us from our understanding of the natural world. And yeah, AI. Wow. I find it scary how quickly people have become reliant on it as a source of information, partly because of the loss in ability to think for oneself, but mostly because the inaccuracy of the information is frightening. And it's hard to have a bullshit detector when you've never learnt otherwise. It's on its to teach the next generations as best we can.