by Don Mason
The man opened the office door and went inside. It was his office and
his name was on the door James
Hardy, Chief Design Engineer, Greens Aircraft Company. It was a large
office with a large desk; its occupant was an important man.
As he sat down his secretary in the adjoining office telephoned him. “There
is a Mr Gabriel here who wishes to see you. He has no appointment but he says
it is very important. Can you see him or shall I send him away? I should say
that he seems rather strange in a way I find difficult to describe”. The
Chief Engineer was intrigued, “Please show him in Miss Parker,” he said.
Mr Gabriel entered. Unlike James Hardy's usual visitors, Mr Gabriel was
quite old and wore a coat that, although clean and well looked after, was
clearly far from new. His appearance did not inspire any confidence in the
Chief Engineer that he had anything of value to offer the Greens Aircraft
Company but the engineer decided that he could spare five minutes to hear what
the old man had to say. “How can I help you?” He asked. “Well”, said
the old man, “I wondered whether your company would be interested in building a
flying machine. Here are the specifications. The machine must be able to take
off and land vertically.” James Hardy started to make notes. Vertical
take off and landing, he wrote. The old man continued, “it must be able
to fly backwards and land upside down, to repair itself, even in flight,
manufacture more of its own kind and run on a variety of fuels. And one last
thing, it must be so small that 100 would fit in a matchbox.” The engineer
had given up taking notes, clearly his visitor had no concept of the
difficulties of what he was asking for. “You don't want a flying machine”
he said, “You want a miracle !”
The old man smiled gently. “You may be right.” he said “But do
think about. You will find it helpful.”
After the old man had left the
engineer realised that, as far as the interests of the Greens Aircraft Company
were concerned, the visit of the old man had been a complete waste of time. However,
the engineer surprised himself by not being irritated by this realisation.
Somehow the old man had left behind an atmosphere of peace and calm, very
different to the usual one of seeking for material achievement.
On the engineer's desk was a
small dish containing a few grapes. The engineer did not smoke but enjoyed the
occasional grape. One of the grapes was split slightly and a fruit fly hovered
over it and then landed on its underside. It then took off and few up and down
with another fly that had just flown in at the open window. After a short
demonstration of these aerobatics the two flies left via the window.
The
engineer was awestruck. He had not given any thought before as to what a
wonderful thing a fruit fly was. It was very much more wonderful than anything
that Greens Aircraft Company could make and yet, until the old man Gabriel had
come to see him he had not given the humble fruit fly a moments thought. He
began to laugh – at himself. He had never done that before. He realized that in
all the 53 years of his life he had not really seen the world in all its
mystery and wonder. Now, as he looked about him he saw that it was filled with
miraculous things of every sort; even he, himself was a miracle. This
realization did not make him feel more self-important - rather he felt a profound sense of humility
and yet, somehow, a deep feeling of reassurance; he was in the hands of a power
much greater than himself. 
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