My Life as a Squirrel

I live in the city but have really tall trees in my backyard. This makes for great squirrel-watching.

They run and play and leap fearlessly, without hesitation from branch to branch and tree to tree. They don’t appear to worry about anything but just go go go. There is no helmet, safety net or parachute – they just live… as squirrels.

I imagine my life as a squirrel and this is what I see:

The squirrel walks slowly to the end of a branch and stops. He then looks for other squirrels and asks if it’s okay to jump, is it scary, what if I fall? He then backs up and thinks about going, but doesn’t. He continues to watch the other squirrels, day after day, and eventually expresses concern calling out to them – Shouldn’t you wear a helmet? Aren’t you afraid? What if you fall? But they don’t listen and keep jumping, high off the ground, limb to limb, tree to tree. The fearful squirrel continues to sit on the branch, paralyzed, doing nothing and starts feeling sad and resentful. He climbs back down and stays on the ground where it is safe.

He looks up at the tree in awe of the other squirrels, the freedom they experience and the joy they feel. He sits and wonders why he can’t live the way they do.