Unexpected Teachers

Ken S. Keyes, Jr. was an American writer quoted as saying “Everyone and everything around you is your teacher.”  I couldn’t agree more and have tried to live my life by that philosophy.  I have been very fortunate and am thankful to have had many great teachers over the course of my life time.  Both human and non-human.  My first big non human teacher was a silverfish or most likely several silverfish.  For those of you not familiar with that organism here is a link. Enjoy :)

You see when I was a child I would often find one crawling around my bathroom. Whenever I was in the bathroom and saw one I didn’t run out of the bathroom in fright or immediately grab a tissue or a can of bug spray.  Instead I watched them.  I just observed and when I observed them I saw something behind just a reactionary machine.  Something deep down inside of me said there is something else there.  An intelligence of a sort. There was an interplay between that organism and the world that the silverfish existed in. They taught me to observe the non-human inhabitants of this planet in addition to the human ones and how they interacted with the world they found themselves in.  As I observed I noticed insights and wisdom.  I have always been thankful to the silverfish for being the first to teach me to pay attention to all organisms for I was able to learn many lessons that have helped me through life and gain new perspectives.  I am thankful for the opportunity to share them with you and I welcome you to share with me any lessons you have learned from those around you as well so together we can grow on this journey that we call life.