Thursday, August 25, 2011

The Squirrel is Half Empty

Today as I was driving home, I saw a dead squirrel lying in the middle of the road. Now, when I say middle, I mean he (we’ll assume it was a he) was lying perfectly between the two yellow lines. I thought to myself, “I wonder if that squirrel is an optimist or a pessimist.” Why would I wonder that, you say? You’ve all heard the age-old debate about whether the glass is half full or half empty, and I’ve always been a half empty type guy. Anyone reading my blog probably already knows that I’m a pessimist. So what does that have to do with the squirrel? Let me ask you this: do you think the squirrel made it all the way to the middle, or do you think the squirrel made it only to the middle? I’m thinking he ONLY made it to the middle. I bet if his family were around, they wouldn’t be saying, “Oh we are so proud of him! He made it all the way to the middle!” No, I think they would be grieving that he only made it halfway, because now he is dead. It’s a harsh reality, but a reality nonetheless. The squirrel made it halfway and died. His glass is not half full. Does this put to rest the debate about the glass? Probably not… but I can certainly relate to the furry little guy.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Grief would be a hard thing to exhibit when you couldn't remember who the little guy was. His parents were likely saying "oh...this is so sad, I'm going to miss....uh....who was he again?"

Anonymous said...

Some of the squirrel made it halfway; some of the squirrel made it over half way.
And some of the squirrel is still travelling on the wheel of that car...further and faster than it could ever do on it's own.
Then again, I'm more of a "squirrel's half full" than a "squirrel's splayed and empty" kind of guy.
ASL