The Honeybee That Got Away 

I saved a honey bee today. He was floating down the river that I’ve been spending a lot of my time at just flipping and flapping his tiny little wings. I debated for a moment whether to help or just let him keep drifting along. Even though he was “just a bee,” I decided I should help so I scooped him out and laid him on the wooden dock next to me. He stumbled around for a second and then stumbled right back into the water. A second time, I scooped him out and laid him on the dock next to me. This time, he was a little more careful which direction he was headed. I watched in awe as he sat next to me for a while and dried himself. He slowly rubbed his face with his little legs. It reminded me of the way a kitten would clean itself. I watched his little hairy body drag along the dock and then he was still for another moment before he started walking along again. I felt so happy that I had saved his little life. I thought what if that was my one and only purpose for being alive today? I did exactly what I was put on this earth to do today. Maybe I gave his little life too much importance and maybe in the big scheme of things, my actions didn’t make one difference at all in the universe, but for a few minutes I was satisfied with myself.  My happiness soon turned to horror as I watched him walk directly back to edge and plunge himself back into the water drifting away in the same direction he was originally headed. I said a little prayer for his little doomed soul and let nature take its course, sad that he didn’t just sit still long enough to dry off and fly away.
Possible moral of the story: No matter how hard you try to help, sometimes things turn out exactly the way they were headed anyway. And, quite frankly, I think that just sucks!!