Gimme The Prize

Don't you just love when you've worked so hard to get something and then through all that hard work your dream is fulfilled? That feeling of accomplishment is a wonderful thing. You feel like all that hard work was worth every second, and you're so happy. All wrapped up in a nice little bow.

Then there are times when that hard work yields nothing at all. Maybe you get what you feel are a few small tokens, but you never get the triumphant finish you feel you deserve. You feel horribly cheated at these times. Life seems so unfair, but you still try and push forward because you don't know what else to do.

But what about a third scenario. Oh, it happens! It's a combination of both of the first two, and it can almost be a bittersweet moment. You work so hard only to get little or nothing, but then after you've accepted your fate victory seems to fall right in your lap. Sure you feel good, but you feel as if you were robbed of that wonderful feeling of accomplishment because you feel as if this was only luck.

After chasing them around like an idiot for what seemed like ages, the black squirrel in this picture strolled right out onto the trail in front of me and began leisurely eating an acorn. Of course I wasn't going to turn down an easy gift such as this. Being very careful not to make any quick moves, I began taking my pictures.

I expected only a couple of pictures before this black ninja of the forest noticed I was there and ran away screaming. But guess what really happened? The squirrel stayed right as. It was really enjoying that acorn so I guess it just didn't notice anything at all, including a giant strange human standing twenty feet away pointing a box at it.

After awhile, and after the squirrel finished all of its acorn, it looked up as if it just then noticed the existence of the rest of the world. It looked around as if was just shaking off the fog around its head, and then without ever noticing me it turned slowly around and trotted right back into the tightly packed bushes.

At first I felt betrayed as if this was not my skill that gave this opportunity to me, it was only dumb luck. But then I began to realize that maybe it was okay to feel the accomplishment. Maybe this was a gift for all of my hard work. Maybe this was the real result. Some things seem easy when you are good at them. Besides, I can do much better than this.