Sunday, April 15, 2007

The Mighty Snail

Jogging is one of my ways of unwinding these days...quite surprising for people who are aware of the particular revulsion I have for perspiration (I seem to be blessed with an amazing tendency to perspire with the most minuscule effort you can imagine...(sigh)). A dear friend is responsible for this near miraculous phenomenon which find me thudding around a nice park adjacent to my apartment block. Somehow, he managed to convince me that it's fun and that the copious sweating isn't as distressing as I imagine! :D

This evening, as the ground beneath my feet felt the repeated pounding of my new running shoes, I saw something that made me think even as I huffed along. I was a large garden snail that was inching its way across the narrow path on which people walk/jog. I marked its progress each time I came near that particular spot on the track. At the end of 25 minutes, it was not even half-way across the (approximately) 3-feet wide path.

More than once I was tempted to just pick it off the ground and deposit it in the safety of the bushes for which it was headed. Towards the end of my jogging I nearly did so...but a thought made me hold back...

I thought to myself, that no matter how small this creature's consciousness is in our estimation, it still has enough intelligence to recognise danger and possesses the instinct for self-preservation. It is in constant danger of being crushed by the next careless oaf who comes lumbering along and somewhere in its tiny snail-mind it must be aware of this; but it still moves ahead, unshakable even in its acute vulnerability.

I think we have a lot to learn from the snail...do you?