All the difference in the world

[Youssee]

Every Sunday morning I take a light jog around a park near my home. There’s a lake located in one corner of the park. Each time I jog by this lake, I see the same elderly woman sitting at the water’s edge with a small metal cage sitting beside her.

This past Sunday my curiosity got the best of me, so I stopped jogging and walked over to her. As I got closer, I realized that the metal cage was in fact a small trap. There were three turtles, unharmed, slowly walking around the base of the trap. She had a fourth turtle in her lap that she was carefully scrubbing with a spongy brush.

“Hello,” I said. “I see you here every Sunday morning. If you don’t mind my nosiness, I’d love to know what you’re doing with these turtles.”

She smiled. “I’m cleaning off their shells,” she replied. “Anything on a turtle’s shell, like algae or scum, reduces the turtle’s ability to absorb heat and impedes its ability to swim. It can also corrode and weaken the shell over time.”

“Wow! That’s really nice of you!” I exclaimed.

She went on: “I spend a couple of hours each Sunday morning, relaxing by this lake and helping these little guys out. It’s my own strange way of making a difference.”

“But don’t most freshwater turtles live their whole lives with algae and scum hanging from their shells?” I asked.

“Yep, sadly, they do,” she replied.

I scratched my head. “Well then, don’t you think your time could be better spent? I mean, I think your efforts are kind and all, but there are fresh water turtles living in lakes all around the world. And 99% of these turtles don’t have kind people like you to help them clean off their shells. So, no offense… but how exactly are your localized efforts here truly making a difference?”

The woman giggled aloud. She then looked down at the turtle in her lap, scrubbed off the last piece of algae from its shell, and said, “Sweetie, if this little guy could talk, he’d tell you I just made all the difference in the world.”

[Bigwig1973]

That's interesting. I did not know that was the case with these turtles. I rented a spot at an antique store not too long ago, and apparently, one of the vendors had been involved in the legal system in her younger years. I want to say that someone told me that she had actually been a judge or a lawyer, but I'm not entirely sure. Regardless, since I went to school for philosophy, I had some good conversations with her whenever we happened upon one another. One story she told me was that the great philosopher, Aeschylus got hit on the head by a turtle that fell from the sky. I haven't read any of his works, apparently he is associated with Greece and was a playwright and a soldier. I associate turtles with Aesop, because of the tortoise and the hare - in which the tortoise wins a foot race even though he is much slower than the hare. Mentally speaking, guilty people run the fastest, in their own minds and consequently, in order to wins the race of being "framed" by someone, one has to be faster, which is sometimes slower, particularly when the accuser attempts to anger one into answering very quickly. If it was assumed that Aeschylus was more knowledgeable, then people may have even attempted to anger him to receive instructions. Or, even if they figured he had good gut instinct. People who feel very trapped can also be very clever, especially if their attempt to anger someone is scripted, but in the end, they may also sell themselves short because by "stealing" the answer, they have proven nothing of themselves. He would have been an excellent target because, most assume that soldiers are mostly dumb oafs. Additionally, watching animal behavior, large dogs are much more tolerant than are small dogs, and so, targeting a dumb oaf who is less likely to bite, but who would still give the answer, means that his enemies would be rather timid. But, potentially, also the type of individual who has experience annoying large animals. Unless the information was stolen! In this case then, cleaning the shell of a turtle might be seen as attempting to damage the "shell" either Aeschylus or perhaps his friend, put around him. Like pleading the fifth combined with the tactics of Porfiry Petrovich, the detective from Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment. A quotes of Aeschylus was apparently, "A great ox stands on my tongue." Regarding the kind woman, I wonder how many other animals throughout the world face similar dilemmas? Why a turtle and not a "pineapple under the sea" like SpongeBob Square Pants?