Saturday, August 10, 2013

"Let me give you some advice," said Stegosaurus. "Especially designed for mammals, since your lives are so sadly short."

"I spent my summer in college this year, after returning from my bird watching vacation. Summer time courses will accelerate the acquisition of my degree, so there is a silver lining. Some things you have to do in the name of education are just difficult. There's no way around it. This year I spent with my class mostly on the west coast trying to identify the Junglans regia from the native species of Juglans. Of course you know how I feel about walnuts and walnut trees. It was one of those pesky requirements, but I faced my uncomfortable fears and got through it."

"You know, if there's one thing I've learned in over 140 million years stomping around this planet it is that worrying accomplishes nothing. Being nonchalant about the future is shortsighted and foolish; but reasonable preparations will make your later years much more pleasant. That is why, one of the reasons why I did what I did; mammals and others who eat walnuts make me uncomfortable, but I did what I did because the future is important to me, even after so many millions of years."

"The world is what you make of it, and what you present to the world is what you will attract to yourself. If you are bitter, negativity will encircle you like a cloud. If you are jealous, envy will follow you and grow. If you are positive and upbeat, if you are kind and generous, patient and tolerant, these attributes will be returned to you tenfold. Don't let anyone stomp all over you; be firm when you need to be; use your cool, spiky tail only in times when your very life is threatened with extinction, and your life will be much more pleasant."

"Do what you can; and do it as soon as you can. Practice kindness towards your fellow creatures whenever possible but accept the things that cannot be changed; the things that you will not be able to do. You will get the blues. That is unavoidable but you have to know how to handle these kind of situations when they occur. I would like to fly, as I have said a number of times, but I doubt it will happen. I can't just evolve on command, apparently. I would like to play our American Pastime base ball again, if only I could find someone to reinstate me. I would also like to play with children in a bounce house but I can't find one big enough for me, and even if I could I'm just too darn spiky. Bounce houses don't like spikes and claws. Sure I'm jealous of birds with their wings and envious of children with their bounce houses sometimes but it does not consume my life to the detriment of my cheerful demeanor."

"Ultimately you get out of life what you put into it; you cannot change the past nor predict the future. Beyond the reasonable, live in the moment, for meteors may fall at any time. This is my wisdom I leave to you. Putting things into perspective, in relative terms can really help. Count your blessings and keep your beak up and it will all work out for the best."

 
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