The biggest thing I’ve ever found in writing and reading is being able to maintain resonance with the authors prospective.

I never knew what that meant until a friend of mine told me the story of the snail.

It’s a simple story but it defines perspective. Basically the story goes that a elderly wealthy hunter was on a guided tour… and on the 4th day of being set up in a prime spot he has saw nothing… As his guides were approaching his blind they heard the hunter giggling and letting out a high pitched “weeeeeeeee……weeeeeeee” every now and then. When they finally got to the hunter..they asked him what he was doing?

” Just remember the sail!” is all he would say.

3 more days go by…and each time the guides would go to the blind…the hunter would be there whispering “weeeeeeeee….hahaha…weeeeee” Finally , in desperation, the guide asked the hunter what he was doing. The hunter let out a long sigh and sat back down…

“I am remembering the snail” he retorted…but continued on. ” I used to come on these trips and kill deer, bear, and even a mighty bull moose. A years ago I found myself in almost the same position….days of hunting and no game in sight. On the 9th day my frustration had hit a high point and I was about to give up. My guide, an old grizzled man, took me to a hunting spot overlooking a swamp… I was convinced this trip was a bust…and sitting next to this mosquito infested swamp was just the way of the guide of making my life an absolute hell…but being a younger man my stubborness and resolve kicked in. I was led to the blind and climbed in…as my guide was leaving he looked at me and whispered ” weeeeeee……weeeeeeeee…. remember the snail”…… I thought this was just his way of prodding me one last time—adding insult to injury since we had been on this hunt almost two weeks. The day passed… mosquitoes feasted….and I once again grew impatient….then I heard it. ” weeeeeeeeeeeeeeee…..weeeeeeeeeeeee”. I was convinced it was a overly zealous mosquito dive bombing my cranium…….then it stopped…. but within minuets it returned… closer… “WEEEEEEEEEE….WEEEEEEE”….. still I could not see what was making this noise…it was coming from the front of the blind…down in the swamp…but no other indicators of origin. I was convinced that my guide was having a go at me… and when he returned at dusk I scolded him for it. Still… the old guide said ” tomorrow…same spot….remember the snail….”

For three days… this went on…. every day…an hour before dusk… the “weeeeeeeeee….hahahah….weeeeeeee” would come from the swamp… My guide insisted it was not him joking around… there was a great trophy in that swamp…I was missing it somehow. So on my last day there I decided to leave the blind… I waited near an old stump close to the ground. It was my intent to pounce on my instigator and finally have some resolution. Slowly dusk arrived… and the familiar sound of “weeeeeeeee……weeeeeeeeee….heheheh…weeeeeee” got closer and closer. I leap from my hiding spot and ……fell flat on my face in a pool of stagnant water and mud….face to face with an old tortoise plowing his way thru the detritus an inch at a time.

Then I saw it… sitting there atop of the tortoise… wearing little pilot goggles and wearing a red scarf blowing in the wind…. was a small snail holding onto a saddle. The old reptile lurched forward on his daily route….and the snail let forth a “weeeeeeeeeee…..haha…. oh boy!…weeeeeeeeeeee” and continued on his way. I sat there dumbfounded by what I had just witnessed.

My guild returned a few hours later to find me sitting on the hill outside my blind… I was laughing and repeating over and over ” weeeeeeeee……..weeeeeeeeeee…remember the snail… remember the snail.”

The trophy that my old guild was hoping that I would take from this hunt was that of perspective. Here I am… full steam into life without any perspective but my own…. but what about that snail… riding a turtle…having the time of his life going as fast has he thought possible. It’s all about perspective and we lose sight of that –we lose intent. So I may not be out here harvesting the biggest trophy… or anything at all…… I’m just remembering to refocus my perspective……. weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee………weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee