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Family: Five Family Lessons from Geese
What does family mean to you?
What does family make you feel?
Our families are our most precious resource. They serve as our support system, an educational network, a source of inspiration and a grounding influence for each other; now and for generations to come.
Families share love, inspiration, respect, ambition, and teach responsibility. Families share affection and good times -Thanksgiving, the holidays, birthdays and anniversaries. Families represent our sense of security and continuity. Often the vast importance of mentoring is overlooked as a seemingly natural aspect of family. Our role as mentors means we too must continuously learn, grow and communicate with respect, empathy and passion. It has been demonstrated over and over that the most successful individuals are those who were properly mentored in preparing for life, profession, relationship responsibility and personal and financial morality.
The value and impact of family mentorship in pivotal areas of our lives cannot be overstated.
The "Five Family Lessons From Geese" help us express our values and encourage family connectivity and continuity while reminding us of the solid platform to which we must direct both our energies and gratitude.
As family we all have a responsibility to set examples for each other in personal and financial morality and in continuous development, learning and sharing.We hope you share the Family Lessons with all of your family. Let them know you care. Let them know they're special. Let them know you love them.
Often, that's all we need.
What does family make you feel?
Our families are our most precious resource. They serve as our support system, an educational network, a source of inspiration and a grounding influence for each other; now and for generations to come.
Families share love, inspiration, respect, ambition, and teach responsibility. Families share affection and good times -Thanksgiving, the holidays, birthdays and anniversaries. Families represent our sense of security and continuity. Often the vast importance of mentoring is overlooked as a seemingly natural aspect of family. Our role as mentors means we too must continuously learn, grow and communicate with respect, empathy and passion. It has been demonstrated over and over that the most successful individuals are those who were properly mentored in preparing for life, profession, relationship responsibility and personal and financial morality.
The value and impact of family mentorship in pivotal areas of our lives cannot be overstated.
The "Five Family Lessons From Geese" help us express our values and encourage family connectivity and continuity while reminding us of the solid platform to which we must direct both our energies and gratitude.
As family we all have a responsibility to set examples for each other in personal and financial morality and in continuous development, learning and sharing.We hope you share the Family Lessons with all of your family. Let them know you care. Let them know they're special. Let them know you love them.
Often, that's all we need.
62 pages, Paperback
Published June 25, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
May 18, 2018
When André Phillip asked me to review his book – and after reading it in twenty minutes – I was surprised by the request. Surprised in many different ways.
Surprised by the beauty of the project: to rebuild the vast family of the old days with all blood relations and various adoptions. And rebuilding these large blood families is not an easy task because most of us have lost direct and regular connections with all our nephews, nieces, cousins, one or two or three removed. Just rebuilding such a set of people would be difficult for many people. I live in a small mountain village and as they say, they are all cousins in a way or another. That is true and there are three or four names in the village that are over-dominant. But that is called inbreeding and at times we can see some good specimens.
That was my second surprise. If we reconstitute these large families for all the members to live within its confines we may run into a serious case of physiological inbreeding, which is severely rejected as not natural at all among ALL – absolutely all – mammals, and we are mammals. We can maybe avoid this danger by welcoming new spouses, brides as well as bridegrooms systematically coming from the outside. But then we run the risk to develop another type of inbreeding, mental inbreeding, and such mental inbreeding reduced to the limits of one family, and the wider the family the more dangerous the peril, can produce some fundamentalistic attitudes that lock up the family onto itself. It is strange to take the case of geese in this project as an example because geese do not have any family institution. They have some group organizations but that has little to do with a family.
That’s where I was surprised a third time because the five qualities put forward are by definition good but they do not require the family limitation.
“First Fact: As each Goose flaps its wings it creates “uplift” for the birds that follow. By flying in a “V” formation, the whole flock adds 71% greater range than if each Goose flew alone.” But this is a basic social principle. Railwaymen, instead of going on strike for any reason whatsoever, no matter how justified they may be, should implement this principle and think of the many million people whose daily life they are going to ruin, and then look for other forms of action that do not punish people who are not responsible for what railwaymen put forward as a reason to strike.
“Second Fact: When a Goose falls out of formation, it suddenly feels the drag and resistance of flying out of pattern. It quickly moves back into formation to take advantage of the lifting power of the bird immediately in front of it.” That’s just the point I made: working together, including to find solutions to any problem, should be the interest of anyone, for themselves and for everyone else. It is by working together that solutions can be found to any problem.
“Third Fact: When the lead Goose gets tired, it rotates back into the V formation and another Goose flies to the point position.” But the main question here is how is a leader appointed, designated, selected and by whom? How do geese do? But once again the family is a difficult example for the selection of leaders. In a family there should be no leader at all and authority comes from what you are, what you do, and it is not attached to any person in particular because of their sex, age, or whatever. Authority has to be spread out and shared. Which is what geese do by rotating this authority.
“Fourth Fact: The Geese flying in formation honk to encourage those up front to keep up their speed.” But please do not honk too often and clapping, applauding or whatever, when it becomes a habit, a custom, a rite, an obligation, has no value whatsoever. It becomes a ritual and then it means nothing. You can tell someone you love them every five minutes but that means nothing after twenty years of the same thing. Emotion, including love, is not something that exists by being said and repeated many times.
“Fifth Fact: When a Goose gets sick, wounded or shot down, two Geese drop out of formation and follow it down to help and protect it. They stay until it dies or can fly again. Then they launch out with another formation or catch up with the flock.” That’s the most difficult element. It is then and only then that you can really measure love and empathy. But some show their emotions by crying or laughing and some others do not show them at all. This empathy is something you experience inside your mind and it is not necessary to express it in the street and in public. Some can do that, some others just can’t.
If you take these five facts and just wonder what social group should be concerned, I think we have to live with our times and for sure an individual who goes to school at age 2 and will get out when 22 or more and then get to a professional field he has more or less chosen, it is quite obvious the family circle is no longer the only circle in which one can exist and can develop. One is not influenced by a group of people who are given a priori. One develops from the contacts one has with the people they get attached to in daily life, during their education, in his or her workplace, etc. I often say love is not only what is consecrated in marriage. You can and you should love as many people as possible, starting with your parents, and with no limits. Love is probably the most human quality we experience, and there are so many forms of love.
And yet I would advise everyone to read this twenty-minute book but to think all along and wonder: is my family necessarily my blood family? Or is it my mental family? My professional family? My educational family? You see for me family cannot be reduced to blood relatives and parents. Read “An Untellable Story, A Dramatic Confession: The Nineteen Stations of Saraphic Love” and you will understand how complicated the relations between one child and his family can be and how the outside world can become an escape, a liberation, even if perverse and twisted in all possible ways. The family circle when it becomes too locked up can also become a real danger to the freedom and the mental development of a child.
The values put forward in this book are the most beautiful values you can imagine but turning them into a code of behavior within a family may miss what Homo Sapiens demonstrated 40,000 years ago or even more with two young male teenagers buried together side by side with a lot of grave goods: these two young teenagers were physically handicapped and had lived their short lives lying down most of the time and they only ate soft food, as their teeth prove. Their community had taken care of them for twelve years or so (and life expectancy was only twenty-nine years) and even in death, they showed compassion, empathy, and love. It is clear Nelson Mandela was right when he quoted the African proverb that “it takes a whole village to raise a child.” It sure took a whole community to raise these two children, these two boys. Even though in this case they were raised to their own tombs. But even so, the five facts we have observed with geese are true for such prehistoric communities.
Enjoy the book.
Dr. Jacques COULARDEAU
Surprised by the beauty of the project: to rebuild the vast family of the old days with all blood relations and various adoptions. And rebuilding these large blood families is not an easy task because most of us have lost direct and regular connections with all our nephews, nieces, cousins, one or two or three removed. Just rebuilding such a set of people would be difficult for many people. I live in a small mountain village and as they say, they are all cousins in a way or another. That is true and there are three or four names in the village that are over-dominant. But that is called inbreeding and at times we can see some good specimens.
That was my second surprise. If we reconstitute these large families for all the members to live within its confines we may run into a serious case of physiological inbreeding, which is severely rejected as not natural at all among ALL – absolutely all – mammals, and we are mammals. We can maybe avoid this danger by welcoming new spouses, brides as well as bridegrooms systematically coming from the outside. But then we run the risk to develop another type of inbreeding, mental inbreeding, and such mental inbreeding reduced to the limits of one family, and the wider the family the more dangerous the peril, can produce some fundamentalistic attitudes that lock up the family onto itself. It is strange to take the case of geese in this project as an example because geese do not have any family institution. They have some group organizations but that has little to do with a family.
That’s where I was surprised a third time because the five qualities put forward are by definition good but they do not require the family limitation.
“First Fact: As each Goose flaps its wings it creates “uplift” for the birds that follow. By flying in a “V” formation, the whole flock adds 71% greater range than if each Goose flew alone.” But this is a basic social principle. Railwaymen, instead of going on strike for any reason whatsoever, no matter how justified they may be, should implement this principle and think of the many million people whose daily life they are going to ruin, and then look for other forms of action that do not punish people who are not responsible for what railwaymen put forward as a reason to strike.
“Second Fact: When a Goose falls out of formation, it suddenly feels the drag and resistance of flying out of pattern. It quickly moves back into formation to take advantage of the lifting power of the bird immediately in front of it.” That’s just the point I made: working together, including to find solutions to any problem, should be the interest of anyone, for themselves and for everyone else. It is by working together that solutions can be found to any problem.
“Third Fact: When the lead Goose gets tired, it rotates back into the V formation and another Goose flies to the point position.” But the main question here is how is a leader appointed, designated, selected and by whom? How do geese do? But once again the family is a difficult example for the selection of leaders. In a family there should be no leader at all and authority comes from what you are, what you do, and it is not attached to any person in particular because of their sex, age, or whatever. Authority has to be spread out and shared. Which is what geese do by rotating this authority.
“Fourth Fact: The Geese flying in formation honk to encourage those up front to keep up their speed.” But please do not honk too often and clapping, applauding or whatever, when it becomes a habit, a custom, a rite, an obligation, has no value whatsoever. It becomes a ritual and then it means nothing. You can tell someone you love them every five minutes but that means nothing after twenty years of the same thing. Emotion, including love, is not something that exists by being said and repeated many times.
“Fifth Fact: When a Goose gets sick, wounded or shot down, two Geese drop out of formation and follow it down to help and protect it. They stay until it dies or can fly again. Then they launch out with another formation or catch up with the flock.” That’s the most difficult element. It is then and only then that you can really measure love and empathy. But some show their emotions by crying or laughing and some others do not show them at all. This empathy is something you experience inside your mind and it is not necessary to express it in the street and in public. Some can do that, some others just can’t.
If you take these five facts and just wonder what social group should be concerned, I think we have to live with our times and for sure an individual who goes to school at age 2 and will get out when 22 or more and then get to a professional field he has more or less chosen, it is quite obvious the family circle is no longer the only circle in which one can exist and can develop. One is not influenced by a group of people who are given a priori. One develops from the contacts one has with the people they get attached to in daily life, during their education, in his or her workplace, etc. I often say love is not only what is consecrated in marriage. You can and you should love as many people as possible, starting with your parents, and with no limits. Love is probably the most human quality we experience, and there are so many forms of love.
And yet I would advise everyone to read this twenty-minute book but to think all along and wonder: is my family necessarily my blood family? Or is it my mental family? My professional family? My educational family? You see for me family cannot be reduced to blood relatives and parents. Read “An Untellable Story, A Dramatic Confession: The Nineteen Stations of Saraphic Love” and you will understand how complicated the relations between one child and his family can be and how the outside world can become an escape, a liberation, even if perverse and twisted in all possible ways. The family circle when it becomes too locked up can also become a real danger to the freedom and the mental development of a child.
The values put forward in this book are the most beautiful values you can imagine but turning them into a code of behavior within a family may miss what Homo Sapiens demonstrated 40,000 years ago or even more with two young male teenagers buried together side by side with a lot of grave goods: these two young teenagers were physically handicapped and had lived their short lives lying down most of the time and they only ate soft food, as their teeth prove. Their community had taken care of them for twelve years or so (and life expectancy was only twenty-nine years) and even in death, they showed compassion, empathy, and love. It is clear Nelson Mandela was right when he quoted the African proverb that “it takes a whole village to raise a child.” It sure took a whole community to raise these two children, these two boys. Even though in this case they were raised to their own tombs. But even so, the five facts we have observed with geese are true for such prehistoric communities.
Enjoy the book.
Dr. Jacques COULARDEAU
May 14, 2018
I will be honest. When I first opened the book, I was a little confused. The size was small and most of the pages looked more like an address book. After reading the introduction, it made a little more sense.
This book is more of a maphlet with a few lessons to learn along the way. For a fun activity, I would even start reading one lesson a day during family dinner. Sometimes when you hear the lessons outloud we can better ourselves. It is amazing but I did learn a few great facts about family loyalty from geese.
This book was okay. After reading it, the actual book is more of an address book. The author is trying to make family loyalty and connections come to life.
I received this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are mine and were in no way influenced by outside sources. I am a professional blogger at Little Lady Plays
This book is more of a maphlet with a few lessons to learn along the way. For a fun activity, I would even start reading one lesson a day during family dinner. Sometimes when you hear the lessons outloud we can better ourselves. It is amazing but I did learn a few great facts about family loyalty from geese.
This book was okay. After reading it, the actual book is more of an address book. The author is trying to make family loyalty and connections come to life.
I received this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are mine and were in no way influenced by outside sources. I am a professional blogger at Little Lady Plays
April 20, 2018
The book is about family. Remind each of us of the value of relationships - maintaining them and supporting each other.
Family is our most precious resource. We cultivate value through teaching, leadership, support, empathy and gratitude. These are values we should teach children, both verbally and by example.
Family is our most precious resource. We cultivate value through teaching, leadership, support, empathy and gratitude. These are values we should teach children, both verbally and by example.
July 6, 2018
I must have completely misunderstood when author Andre Philip asked me to review his book, Family Book: Five Family Lessons From Geese. I thought I would be reading five essays on how each lesson reflected in a flock of geese---a narrative that would engage me and illustrate how families---human or animal---are basically the same. I thought I would see tips in the narratives on how to keep families better connected---without technology.
This little book is about as far from that scenario as it can be. The first seventeen pages are the lessons, followed by facts about geese. Nothing inspired or noteworthy. In fact, if all the text on those pages flowed together, they probably wouldn’t amount to more than five pages. The rest of the book is nothing more than a glorified address book with little room to write about favorite memories or stories.
I was extremely disappoint in “Family Book: Five Family Lessons From Geese,” which receives 1 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.
This little book is about as far from that scenario as it can be. The first seventeen pages are the lessons, followed by facts about geese. Nothing inspired or noteworthy. In fact, if all the text on those pages flowed together, they probably wouldn’t amount to more than five pages. The rest of the book is nothing more than a glorified address book with little room to write about favorite memories or stories.
I was extremely disappoint in “Family Book: Five Family Lessons From Geese,” which receives 1 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews