Walking through a New Hampshire wildlife refuge this past weekend, I spotted several pairs of horseshoe crabs on the shoreline. In the spring, when the moon is full and the tide is at its peak, the females come to spawn. Each season they lay between 80- and 90-thousand eggs, of which only ten on average survive to adulthood.
Nature, in other words, doesn’t assume that all will go well. She factors in failure while striving for success. We humans would save ourselves a lot of heartache if we did the same. We seem to think that our endeavors should succeed on the first try. In reality, that rarely happens. But if we keep making effort, keep putting ourselves out there, the odds eventually turn in our favor.
Note: I found the above photo on a University of Delaware website. Click here to read an article from the site on horseshoe crabs.
What a wonderful post! How true that so many of us put ourselves through a lot and refuse to accept failure as a necessary marker on the trail forward.
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Thanks, Anne! I've been learning this lesson and thought I'd pass it along.
ReplyDeleteHello Prill- I haven't seen you in so many years. I was in love with you in the third grade and for many years after. It is a gift to see you looking so well and creating so well. You won't remember me but I am happy just to know that you are alive.
ReplyDeleteDear Anonymous-- What a sweet note! Thank you for reaching out to me. Third grade was the year I first moved to Westport. (I left in '72 and moved back in '95.) Don't be so sure I wouldn't remember you. I recall many of my former classmates. Just yesterday, I remembered with fondness Wendy Mercier and her blue glasses. (Her mother, I believe, was a children's book writer.) I hadn't thought about her in years. Anyway, I hope you, too, are doing well.
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