Being "In Play"

I regularly ride my bike on the canal system in the southeast Phoenix valley.  I have written about the canal system before.  I wrote a sobering post about the perspective gained from witnessing the aftermath of a fatal accident.

I wrote about an interesting canal rescue in which I helped a 93 year old man who had riden his 3 wheeled cycle into the canal. There was a part 1 and part 2 of this story.

A few weeks ago, I made an observation about optimism while riding my bike along that same canal system.  A few facts about the canal: 

The canal banks descend from three to as much as 10 feet to the water.  Some canal walls are lined in concrete and others are not.  The descent from the top of the canal bank to the water is very steep. The steepness serves several functions one of which is to protect the fish and water fowl in the canal from predators.   This photo provides a nice visual of all these points. 

The observation 
I noticed a cat, a very hungry cat, poised at the edge of the water.  This cat had carefully walked down a very steep, concrete lined canal bank, firmly planted front paws inches from the waters edge and was intently watching the fish and the fowl swim back and forth.  

Lifting either paw in the slightest would have sent the cat head over paws into the water.  The cat could not move!  The fish and the fowl seemed to know this so they were swimming mockingly close!  But the cat was resolute, tracking the movement of several fish and fowl, waiting for the right opportunity to pounce. 

I rode away thinking that the cat did not have a snowballs chance to catch dinner.  But on reflecting, I realized that the cat had improved the odds a lot by simply putting itself in play.  The chances of success were much better by the water than they were on the bank.  There is a lesson there somewhere.

Be Well