We can truly learn so much from nature! I just love the story about the the oyster and the pearl and thought I'd share it with you. Natural pearls form when an irritant, usually a parasite (the
proverbial grain of sand) finds its way into an oyster. As a defense mechanism, a fluid is used to coat the irritant.
Layers of this coating, also known as nacre, are deposited until a
lustrous pearl is formed.
The Oyster
There once was an oyster whose story I'll tell,
Who found that some sand had slipped under his shell.
It was only a grain, but it gave him great pain,
For oysters have feelings although they're so plain.
Now, did he berate the harsh workings of fate
That brought him to such a deplorable state?
No, he said to himself as he lay on a shell,
Since I cannot remove it, I shall try to improve it.
So, the years rolled by as years always do
And he came to his ultimate destiny, a stew.
But the small grain of sand that had bothered him so,
Was a beautiful pearl all richly aglow.
Now this tale has a moral, for isn't it grand,
What an oyster can do with a morsel of sand?
What couldn't we do if we'd only begin,
To enrich all those things that get under our skin.
-Anon
