Little Traps

Lately, when I spot a crane fly trapped indoors, flying in it's ungainly fashion near a window or along a wall. I have to help it out. Those lil guys only have a lifespan of 10-15 days. I spotted one in the bathroom the other day, bouncing in the shower stall from one corner to another. The next morning it had grown significantly. That is when it occurred to me that so much of it's short life had been wasted flying from corner to corner in the bathroom. Perhaps it was still young enough that when I finally put him/her out there was still much living to be done and the last 24 hours would be looked back upon as a rut or a temporary life snag.  There have been times when I have opened a car window to let one out and it chose to just dance along the window and not fly off even though it was mere inches from a lifetime of possibilities.

This seems to be a situation a lot of living things find themselves in. There is a fish I see in an aquarium, a rather large aquarium, that is not packed with  many fish. This little fish swims the exact same short course every time I happen to sit and watch the aquarium. All that space and it has managed to create a fishbowl within a larger fish bowl.  I wonder why it doesn't swim the entire span of it's world, a world that is already limited. Maybe the fish feels more secure there. That small area is it's comfort zone and a happy place for it. But I see all this space and can't believe the fish has managed to narrow it's world even further.

Being the one on the outside and looking in, we rarely understand why others do what they do. But the crane fly and little fish have taught me to beware of self imposed limitations and spending too much time going over and over the same.  There is just so much more.