Source: http://konachan.net/post/show/14641/clouds-flowers-grass-hermes-kino-kino_no_tabi-kuro

“The desire to fly is an idea handed down to us by our ancestors who…looked enviously on the birds soaring freely through space…on the infinite highway of the air.” – Wilbur Wright

I always took the gift of flight for granted. As with many other inventions. However, in retrospect, I really should be thinking about it more. Although I have not been keeping that well with the current fall line-up, I want to give a special mention to Kino no Tabi, a series that I’ve followed for a bit in SCCSAV, an anime watching group. One episode that really caught my attention is episode 8.

A long story short, it’s about a girl who takes flight.

Long before the invention of the airplane, people always dreamt of the dream of flying through the air. No one thought it could be done. Except for a girl and two men. In the episode, it is a girl with a dream. In real life, it is a dream shared between two brothers. Regardless, both were shunned or laughed upon for even trying to attempt the impossible.

Further humiliated is the girl who dreams, as the contraption she has worked so hard for many years is forced to be taken down. Even her boyfriend urges her not to endanger her life for such a reckless dream. However, Kino, the protagonist, urges her to realize her dream to the very end.

In the end, she flies. She fulfils her dream. The people of the town call her a “mage”, a modern day miracle maker. However, what isn’t important is that “she flew”. It’s that “she flies”. She realized her dream to the very end, very ganbatte-like. In the end, the airplane wasn’t what took flight; it was herself. If she hadn’t pushed until the very end, nothing would have soared above the sky. The same could possibly be said for the Wright brothers.

Kino herself, when asked why she helped her, simply replies with: “I didn’t know it could fly. [I didn't have any particular] reason. But, it flies“, which makes me ponder as well “the range of human potential”.

So, just try things. As they say, you never know until you try. Take flight. Ganbatte.

Also a shoutout to this beautiful background. Didn’t know it was from Kino no Tabi until recently. I’ve had it as my wallpaper for quite a while now.