Portland’s trapped gull was a metaphor for our times | Opinion

Rich West, a professor at Emerson College, lives in Cape Elizabeth. All views are the writer’s own.

As someone who has lived in Maine for nearly 40 years, I have been intrigued with seagulls. And, when I learned of the death of the Victoria Mansion seagull this past week, I truly felt sad.

I know there are more than a few people on social media who ridiculed the attention that this wretched bird received and yet, in my eyes, that attention was well deserved.

As the hourly developments were revealed, I couldn’t help but think about the different similes and metaphors that the bird represented while struggling to get free. (For those who skipped their fourth-grade English class the day these were discussed, a simile is a comparison of two different things and a metaphor is also a comparison but states that two dissimilar things contain the same qualities.)

First, a stuck bird is not unlike a stuck Mainer.

Many of us feel trapped by high gas prices, grocery items that keep rising, a resurgence of hate in our country and a sheer disrespect for diverse points of view. Like the seagull who was lodged between the tower spire and the building’s lightning rod, we can’t seem to loosen ourselves to figure out how to navigate these unstable times.

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We also can find a comparison between the help this seagull received before its demise and what help we should receive before our demise. Now, more than ever, there are families, vets and single parents, among others, who need help.  No “fire truck ladder” will do; we need direct support — from our neighbors, family and all levels of government.

And like the passionate bird enthusiasts who solicited advice from ornithologists, we often call on others to help us. But like the seagull, we remain rather helpless — wanting to escape the economic trappings that we find ourselves in, usually not of our making.

A third consideration of this story lies in the fact that seagulls are rather intelligent creatures. Now, one could argue with the fact that we Mainers are all intelligent creatures. But most can agree with the fact that we desire to be creative and innovative in order to get ourselves out of predicaments with our family, job and relationships. This poor bird couldn’t seem to extract itself and, sadly, it perished. Hopefully, our intelligence will thwart that type of ending.

The seagull is one of our state’s most visible symbols. It’s a bird that we see on coastlines, near lakes and even at national parks. Yet, and you may laugh at this, we lost more than a bird. We lost something that brought different kinds of people together — from firefighters to antiquarians to passersby.

We also lost a bird known for its resilience — something that Mainers are known for as well. Finally, we lost a little hope, hope that somehow, technology and human intervention will save us.

The seagull on Danforth Street is now a bird of the past. But, if we are to “survive” the difficult times in our country and around the globe, we can all learn some lessons from this unfortunate ending.

Today, more than ever, let’s soar — together.

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