Don’t be a squirrel
Why is it that squirrels can outwit every mechanism to protect a birdfeeder devised by man… (Don’t believe that? Watch this.)…but persist in waiting until just the last minute to run across the road in front of a car?
I refuse to believe the Geico ad that suggests it is purposeful mischief. (Word is the gecko’s union is contemplating a job action over the use of unorganized squirrel labor in this commercial. When the inflatable rat goes up at the next camera location, the menagerie will be complete.)
Apparently, there are limits to a squirrel’s ingenuity. Those crafty little brains haven’t learned to judge speed and direction of a moving vehicle–or that there are consequences for misjudging it. Dire consequences. I guess they hear the engine or feel the vibration, and the alarm bell goes off in their heads. So, they dash right out into danger.
They don’t learn from their mistakes, I suppose, because the mistake is fatal. Maybe their companions learn. There are always companions. Like sorrows, squirrels ‘come not single spies but in battalions.* Maybe the companions learn, but I doubt it. The next time Buddy Squirrel hears a car coming he probably doesn’t think, “Uh-oh, better not run across the road! Remember what happened to Chester!”
I guess he could. One squirrel looks much like another to me, so maybe Buddy runs the other way. However, there are always squirrels dashing across the street in front of my car, and I am always hitting the brakes, so I don’t think they are grasping the concept.
The running is a survival mechanism. It stands them in good stead most of the time. It’s just not working for them in traffic.
Today, I am wondering what survival mechanism aren’t working for me, anymore. What learned behaviors–learned so early that I think they are just part of my personality–are getting in the way of my success?
I’ll tell you one that most women of my age–and maybe any age–have to fight against. The ‘Be a Good Girl and You Will Be Rewarded’ myth. Tricky, that. Because certain aspects of “being a good girl” are helpful. It’s not always bad to be polite, to be accommodating, to use gentleness instead of force.
Sometimes, it’s not enough, though.
Sometimes, you have to have another club in your bag. And sometimes you have to club somebody with it.
Metaphorically speaking. Do not run out and hit anybody with a 5 iron!
I’m not advocating violence–or non-violence. I’m just saying, if you’re not making the progress you want to make, it might be helpful to look for the patterns. Wonder about the things that you are doing ‘instinctively’ and see if you can change them.
In other words, quit dashiing out in front of cars!
* Shakespeare! Hamlet, Act IV, Sc. 5
