Endure like zooplankton

I read today that many zooplankton (mostly tiny and weak animals that are carried by the currents) spend the beginning of their lives climbing every day to the top of the ocean where their food is, only to have to let them selves sink back down to the ocean floor to not get eaten themselves. They make this lengthy and extensive trip every single day in hopes that eventually they'll survive and grow in to a much larger, more capable animal.

From the water to the air

Have you ever heard of a naiad? No, I'm not talking about some mythological character. A naiad is an insect that can live for years, though some types only live for months. They live under the water. They eat small creatures, other insects, are pretty good at catching their prey. Great, great swimmers!


But a naiad is only the nymph (adolescent) stage of a particular insect.


After all that time swimming, the naiad crawls out of the water, sheds its skin, and boom! It's a dragonfly!!!


Yes, a dragonfly! You read that right. After potentially years of swimming, the dragonfly crawls out flies.


One day it has gills (according to the book I was reading) and the next day it is breathing air.


How cool is that!


Talk about an example of a great change!

A little Confidence Can Go A Long Way!

Do you ever get jealous of those people who are so confident that the world just seems to wilt around them? That it doesn't matter what anyone thinks of them, they know their value.

I have some friends that I often look at and think, "Man! I wish I was that confident!"

Because confidence is beautiful! It makes you look strong, smart, and capable all at once!

It's like the peacocks in the picture above. The one is proudly showing it's feathers and winning the stare down with the other one, who is bowing to him.

Although, confidence can easily go the wrong way and make you seem cocky. That's not good. The picture below describes this perfectly. While the one male peacock is being confident . . . or is he being cocky? . . . and the other male peacock is bowing to him . . .

The female peacock couldn't care less! She's just in the foreground cleaning her feathers!

So who is more confident? The cocky peacock or the silent, I- could- care- less- about -your- drama, female?

Not all confidence looks the same. 

The Surprise Gorilla Attack

So there we were, at the zoo, checking out the gorilla cage. You know how everyone loves it when the animals come right up to the glass? Well that's what we saw as soon as we walked in. This massive gorilla was sitting right up by the glass.

We couldn't get right up close to it, unfortunately. There was a group of kids who were crowding the prized area.

One by one, and sometimes at the same time, all of the kids started tapping and hitting on the glass.

Boom. Boom. Boom.

The Gorilla did nothing.

Boom. Boom. Boom.

The Gorilla did nothing.

Boom. Boom. Boom.

Again, nothing.

-I think too often people do this with other things as well. They tempt it, get close, "play", figuring that nothing will happen. But, guess what happens when you do that?

So back to my story. The Gorilla just sat there, looking rather dull while those kids tapped on the glass.

All of a sudden, without warning, the Gorilla jumped to it's feet in a motion so fast that if you blinked you would miss it. It reared it's massive body into backward swing and threw itself against the glass. With one big "boom!" it slammed its forearm against the barrier and then pounded it's fist.

In one big motion, every single one of the kids that had taunted him jumped back in surprise.

Yeah.

Then, a bit more cocky, the gorilla went back to sitting quietly.

I wish I had gotten the whole thing on video!