The end of March and into April is National Kite Month. For many, flying kites is something that children do, but on the Oregon coast, you will find all ages flying them. There you will see the traditional diamond kites, box kites of all sizes, dragon kites, the highly maneuverable sport kites that may take several people to operate and can do all sorts of things, and many other different kinds. Kites hold a special attraction for me for some reason. I used to fly a twenty-five foot dragon kite by the Pacific Ocean, but on my last move it got lost somewhere along the way. So sad.
Kites are interesting in that they symbolize freedom, but freedom with restraint, for they need to be held by someone on the ground, or they disappear into space. They can also represent a person’s dreams, in that we need to let our imagination fly free, but a dream needs to be tethered to the ground before it can become a reality. They can also represent impermanence, as at the end of the day, they are pulled back to earth again. And we mustn’t forget Charlie Brown and the kite eating tree! The last quote in the list below would be appreciated by him.
I do find the first quote by Leonard Cohen to be the most intriguing and haunting. It reminds us that as beautiful as a kite in the sky is, if we lose interest, it is gone, much like our dreams.
A kite is the last poem you’ve written
so you give it to the wind,
but you don’t let it go
until someone finds you
something else to do.
–Leonard Cohen
Freedom is the kite’s response to the wind.–Marty Rubin
Then I let go. … That was my kite, and it was free. I’d let it go. It’d wanted so much to be free that I just couldn’t hold on, couldn’t hold it down. I smiled as I watched it whirl away – above the trees, above the birds, above the clouds, sparkling into the heavens, dancing free. It was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.–Katie Dale
You need to grab your dream out of the sky like it’s a kite and pinch the string through your fingers until you reach the spool.–Augusten Burroughs
The optimist pleasantly ponders how high his kite will fly; the pessimist woefully wonders how soon his kite will fall.–William Arthur Ward
Imagination is the highest kite one can fly.–Lauren Bacall
Don’t be afraid of opposition. Remember, a kite rises against–not with–the wind.–Hamilton Mabie
I fully appreciate the ability of trees to attract kites. They have special powers that way.–Charlie Dunton
Find nearly 9000 inspirational quotes and a link to the Quote of the Day list at http://www.quotelady.com.
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