Answer lies within you

As John Penberthy writes in his book “To Bee or Not to Bee: a book for beeings who feel there's more to life than just making honey,” life is a long journey from “I” to “We.” The book title is reminiscent of Hamlet’s voice in agony and a working bee named Buzz flapping his wings to try to fill as much as honey in the hive. Buzz gets trapped in the boredom of the daily grinds. Doubting that working bees will have some rest someday, he thinks that someone else is robbing him of his life.

Nevertheless, Bee can stay focused on what he does thanks to his mentor Burt who gives me a lesson that happiness is not what you earn by yearning for it but is a present that you get by chance or the greatest gift is today. If we picture ourselves being part of conversations between Burt and Buzz, it sounds like a lesson for human life. Left in shock by the death of Burt, Buzz leaves the hive to fly up higher toward a bigger world just as Jonathan from Richard Bach’s novel “Jonathan Livingston Seagull” soars in the sky with the belief that goes, “The seagull who flies highest sees the farthest.” However, unlike Jonathan, Buzz comes back home after seeing what is out there. He learns a lesson that the reason that he does not get his colleagues is that they take a different approach toward life and they have more in common rather than differences.

Once you start feeling strong enough to overcome fear and weaknesses from within, it can serve as a driving force that allows you to continue what you want to do. After realizing that the power of water drops that break a rock comes not from potency but from consistency, Buzz contributes to make a difference in the world of working bees. As Buzz says, the power of intelligence starts from your acknowledgement of differences and the power of sensibility is derived from your awareness of similarities. Buzz’s journey reminds us of a phrase from Burt, “The only way out is in.”