Life Lessons from a Housefly
The teacher in the little creature
I have had a long standing fascination with the behaviour of houseflies.
They are extremely simple beings. Birth. Survival. Death.
Ants have complex colonies and a societal structure that is stuck in the feudal 1700s. So do Honeybees. But no, not houseflies. Their life is 28 days of abandon.
And as much as William Blake may have pondered over their short lives, the same short life offers meaningful lessons too. Not kidding.
Never let your guard down
Houseflies, even in a state of rest, are ready to take evasive action in the light of any danger. Even the “mightier” human species had to devise various devious pieces of weaponry to get the better of them.
With such a keen eye for change in environment, and a persistent bias for action, houseflies could be role models for data analysts in startups.
Punch above your weight
Their minuscule size does not deter them from locking horns (proboscises?) with huge animals like humans and cows.
Remember the last time there was a fly in your room. Were you able to carry on in peace? Thought so.
Question if the problem really exists
For all their agility and resilience, more often than not, a fly’s limited cognition ends up becoming its nemesis.
Ever observed a fly struggling against glass? Needless to state, it is a painful and pitiful sight. Most of them struggle, and then struggle some more, and eventually perish.
The bizarreness of it makes one wonder why it didn’t fly away in the other direction.
It is the only rational thing to do. Right?
Think about it though. What do we do when we face an obstacle in the path of what we crave? We keep pining, fighting and losing our peace for it.
Stuck in this process, we tend to ignore the big wide opportunity that the rest of the world presents to us. One that is equally or more desirable.
And just like them, we fail to share our predicament with others, neither seeking help nor passing on the knowledge of this potential pitfall.
For all the advancement of our collective minds, sometimes we tend to act completely outside of reason.
Fortunately, nature keeps throwing these nuggets of wisdom. All we need to do is look.
If this post resonated with your thoughts, send in your appreciation with a few claps. Virtual claps prevent any freak incidences of housefly extermination.
