Do I want to know?

  I have been thinking a lot about the fortitude and physical strength of the critters that live in and around the Bayou.  It is not an easy life and you have to be tough to even survive, much less flourish.  I guess it all goes back to that "survival of the fittest" since hardships are faced daily. Even finding a meal for one requires adeptness and wiliness but when that task is multiplied due to a nest of little ones, one had better be downright intelligent.  A parent (more oft than not, only the mother) works tirelessly to feed the hungry mouths of her growing brood even to the point of starving herself.  

  Besides the never-ending struggle for food, there is always the harshness of the elements that tests the grit of the critters.  A few years ago, I watched as a Great Blue Heron stood steadfast in the middle of a tropical storm.  The bird's perch on a bit a shrub soon became completely surrounded by the flood waters but it refused to budge.  That dauntless bird was not about to let some silly storm deter it from catching breakfast.  Where the bird usually waded the waters near the marsh to catch its fish, it was now in the middle of the yard!  The flood waters rose causing fish to come inland.  I am thinking that the green grass beneath the water might have made it easier for the bird to spy the fish.  The bird was taking advantage of the opportunity.  Smart bird.

  Still watching that bird make the most of what could have been a devastating dilemma made me realize the amount of spunk it takes to survive.  Without ingenuity, perseverance and bravery, most would never make it.  I wonder....would I be able to survive?  I am not sure I want to ever have to find out the answer to that question.  Best leave well enough alone.