FLY ME TO THE MOON

It's not the lions. We can handle the lions. It's those darn pesky Stomoxys calcitrans.

An article taken off the web introduced me to the dreaded "Bloodsucking flies of Tanzania" (a.k.a. Stomoxys calcitrans). It seems these flies were responsible for killing six lions and seriously injuring sixty-two others. According to a conservationist "The flies bite the lions then keep biting their wounds, inflicting a lot of pain and traumatizing them. The lions are dying of trauma."

It's not the big things. We can handle the big thing. It's those darn pesky flies.

Forgot to set the alarm (fly).

No time for coffee (fly).

Dog poop on the carpet (fly).

Heavy traffic (fly).

Unplanned meeting (fly).

Underwear riding up (fly)

Cell phone battery running down (fly)

Excessive overtime (fly)

Daughter dating the purple-haired guy (fly)

At the end of the day, when you've swatted your last fly (spouse has a headache), you drop into bed exhausted. You're so uptight you realize you're breathing like your dog on a hot July afternoon, your shoulders are up around your ears, and you haven't blinked since last Tuesday.

The best use of our time for reducing the pressures we're exposed to everyday is not to bag our lions, but to manage our flies.

Life is made up of flies, both the bloodsuckerflies and the butterflies. Get used to it. When life throws you into a swarm of Stromos, breath deeply, relax, and laugh. When encountering an abundance of butterflies, delight in the flying flower, smile like the kid you are, and know just how good you have it right now.


Lesson: Don't sweat the big stuff, it's the little stuff that will drop you
to your knees.