What is with me and during my walks finding random animals? I cannot count how many times I’ve run into stray dogs, wild cats, bunnies, possums, and raccoons. Then there was that time with the baby bird…
But, never has it taught me a lesson before. One that is still forming in my head. Because, today, while walking, I spotted a turtle, shelled up in the road. A big one. Like, I am not talking something you’d see in a zoo as a novelty, but the thing was easily the same size as a small child, pre-toddler age. And, fortunately for me and the turtle, there were no cars nearby, coming or going.
And here’s the lesson: when I tried to save it, the turtle heavily resisted. This clever little guy did not want me messing with his shit. Now, for clean-freak reasons, I was trying to avoid touching the turtle—also because he might bite. So, I pressed my shoe against it and pushed, but, as I did, the little shell-bro would stick out a leg just so, so that I spun him in a circle.
I was pretty sure I would need a creative solution. But, as I was off calling my parent to ask for advice, it motored. For a turtle, this dude was quick: easily crossing halfway within a few seconds. In surprise, I took a step closer, but, by testing, every time I got a little close, it tucked inside, and sat there as potential road kill.
So, what was I to do? I backed off, as far as needed, and it went underneath a parked car on the other side of the road—where it was dark—and sat there. I could not get to it, and, thankfully, the owner of said car does not drive all that much (at least, from what I’ve observed walking past that place every day) so, it was not in any danger for the moment.
Much like the baby bird, I had to leave it there, walk away, and hope it made it to a place where it was not at a severe risk of being killed. I’ll be walking that path sometime after I edit this post and checking for my turtle friend—but I won’t know until then.
But the lesson stands: only when I gave the scared thing space, stopped trying to save it, did it do the relatively smart thing on its own.
It saved itself.
And, honestly, I’m not yet sure of the application of this lesson, and how it will affect my life. While I won’t dig into my personal beliefs too much, as I’ve said before: I believe in signs. Not sure from what—but I’ve seen the universe conspire to teach us lessons we need to know soon.
This is not to take away free will, though, for even if our own willpower is all that drives our destiny, we are still secretly preparing ourselves for what we know is coming, on some deeper level than active consciousness.
And I wonder what is about to happen that required me to learn from a turtle.
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Coolerbs Writes 