I Didn't Know There Was a Rat in it!

We love you Ratty, sorry you're not coming off too well in this blog.

A story I grew up with, a story we all grew up with, a story about a bad ass hare and an easy going tortoise, I am of course talking about the epic tale called “The Hare and the Tortoise”. It’s a story that is much loved by people the world over and it really makes us believe if just for a moment that if we keep our heads down, believe in ourselves and keep going, well we might just get to where we want to be. Whether this is becoming a millionaire or beating an arrogant, know-it-all hare it doesn’t matter, the principles are the same.

For me I think this concept is something we all want to believe, something we all even say we believe but how many of us actually live like we believe it? Not many you can bet. For most of us think one way and act another, leading to a life of frustration, disappointment and being average and yes landscape architecture is no different.

Not that there is anything wrong with being average or being normal if you like, it’s just that if you had a magic lamp gave it a rub and out popped a genie who was willing to offer you anything you wanted, you could have it all, the life of your dreams, anything, anything at all, do you really think anybody on this earth, no matter what their circumstances would say to the genie “Genie I wish to be average”. I doubt it! Therefore I conclude that nobody will ever feel fulfilled in their lives if all they ever do is be average, no matter how content or peaceful they are with it, being average will slowly be met with regrets, disappointment and a feeling of emptiness, which people will try and fill with superficial modern day conveniences, pursuing life’s of pleasure rather then fulfilment. Pursuing a life centred around themselves and what people can offer them, instead of living a life centred around each other and what they can offer people.

In the recent story I read about the tortoise and the hare, there was an extra character involved, one that I never knew of before, he was the rat and he only entered the race because other people were talking about it and he didn’t want to miss out, so he jumped in, just to be like everyone else, you know, just to fit in, who wants to miss out on all the commotion.

Let’s recap the story by taking the three characters:

The boastful hare: He’s expected to win; he’s got all the natural ability in the world and is born to be fast and powerful.

The humble tortoise: He’s a slow animal, certainly not designed to be fast and even lacks the ability to run, a clear outsider with not a snowflakes chance in hell of winning against a hare

The Rat: He can run, he can train really hard, he can be smart and run right, sure you could say he has potential and sure if a tortoise is going to run I guess the rat might as well run also. Nothing to lose, right!

So race day comes, and they all line up, the hare, the rat and the tortoise, the gun fires and they’re off, straight out of the blocks is the hare, speeding far, far ahead and then the tortoise one foot in front of the other, step by step, slowly but surely, lagging way behind the hare, but of course we all know how this story ends so I’m not going down that road, no I’m going back to the race, where we have the rat!

Now this is where this story gets really interesting, the rat takes one step forward, a good step, fast, confident, full of energy, but unfortunately another step does not follow, as the rat decides, just as the race begins that he will never beat the hare, sure he’ll beat the tortoise, very easily in fact, but the hare not a chance, and who wants to finish second, who cares about second place. So straight away the rat gives up as soon as the race started because he knew he could never beat the hare. And guess what the rat didn’t beat the hare and can you guess what again, the rat never ever beat the hare, in fact the rat will probably never beat the hare not now or in the future, because the rat knows he can’t win. Meanwhile the tortoise goes on to win the race.

The rat was not slow nor was he fast, he was average and because he never tried to be anything else other than average he stayed average and he got average results. The world is full of rats and hares, with all sorts of natural ability that blow your mind away, the truth is most of the hares rely too heavily on their natural ability and most of the rats never stop believing they are average, it takes little steps, no matter how slow or how small, it takes little steps one after another, in the right direction to get you where you want to be, and I guess sometimes it takes an insignificant rat to remind us of that.

So what kind of landscape architect are you:

A.      One with natural ability, that you are destined to waste. (not always, but very often the case)

B.      One with average ability that you believe right down to your core

C.      Or one that knows where you are going and you take small but significant steps to get there each and every day.

If you think you are C, well then prove it to yourself, ask yourself right now, “What little step did I take to get me closer to where I want to be?” If you can’t answer that simple question then you are not C!

Disclaimer:

This writer of this blog has nothing against rats, tortoises or hares any references to them are purely metaphorical, in fact the writer of this blog is a vegan and he loves all of god’s creatures, even the ones that pollute the planet day after day.