Perspectives

Look carefully at the tail of the black squirrel and you can see his injury.

Are you a glass half full or glass half empty person? I often wonder why people have a tendency towards one extreme or the other. Being a half empty person, I spend far too much time fretting and stewing about minor incidents that the rest of the population would skip by without much consideration. But I know that the world needs the pessimists like me to keep the other half grounded.

On an overcast day like today, my half empty attitude takes a downward spiral and I admit that during these periods I am not the most pleasant person to be around. To counteract the black mood, I take to watching the squirrels outside the kitchen window. There are an assortment of grays and blacks, youngsters and adults. One catches my eye. Face forward he is a beautiful squirrel, healthy and full of vigor. Then he twists around and I can see that some of his tail fur is missing. One section of the tail has skin and no fur, but a good 4-5 inches of skin is gone as well, exposing the segmented bones. The squirrel doesn’t appear to be bothered by the injury and considering how chilly it is today, I would think that the wound would sting from the cold air temperature.

If this was me, I would be hiding in my house, ashamed to allow others to see my injuries. But this squirrel is right in the middle of the pack, pushing the others away from his stash of sunflower seeds, scampering up the tree with the other squirrels at the slightest hint of trouble. It gets me to thinking about the so-called human superiority over other animals. Our ability to think and process sophisticated pieces of information give us an advantage over most but it comes at a price. I think we humans spend far too much time worrying about insignificant things. Does having the perfect wardrobe, car, house and ageless body really count for much in the scheme of things? My life is more comfortable than many in the world and yet, I sit here on this gloomy day moping about. Then I see this squirrel whose injury could jeopardize his odds of survival and he is behaving as if he is master of the backyard. It begs the question: who is the smarter creature?