Lesson From The Porch

This is the view from where I sit on our porch each morning as I cool down from our walking. No, this isn't about the porch. If you look real close, in the middle, you'll see what keeps me entertained most of the time when I sit out there. I always love watching one of our visiting cranes (Blue Heron), but lately I've been enjoying watching the battle of the floating tire.

You can't see much of it, but you can see the turtles resting on it. A couple months ago, this tire suddenly appeared in our pond. Well, after all, it really is just a holding tank for rain run off. I didn't like looking at it and thought about rigging up a grappling hook to snag it and pull it out. The turtles love it - I guess. Every minute of the day there is a constant positioning battle going on as turtles crawl up on to the tire, and one another, to find a place to rest and get some rays. I mean turtles of all sizes, colors, and shapes. I never knew we had so many in the pond. They load up the tiny space above water, someone moves, and splash - they're all in the water and it starts again. What makes it even more interesting is that the tire is not anchored. It obviously has some muck and mud in the base of it, but if the turtles get it overloaded or out of balance - it rotates and dumps 'em all. Then they start all over again.

I caught myself in mid-laugh this morning as it dawned on me how much those turtles reminded me of mankind's constant attempt to seek preeminence, comfort, and success in a world that will, at some point, dump them like the turtles in my pond. Lessons? Climbing over one another? Repeating the same mistake over and over? Knocking everyone else off to open the way up for yourself? Following others to achieve success and ending up in the drink? Ignoring the need for balance in life? And, well, you get the picture.

They are turtles who only follow their instincts. They can't reason and make wise choices. What's our excuse? Kind of makes you want to crawl into a shell.