The Turtle

Ever heard the story of the turtle and the hare? You know, the fable of the turtle who challenged the hare to a running race... with the turtle ending up winning because the hare took a nap. Well, I was told once that living by this story was the key to success. What?! I thought, But it's just a fable! It's got nothing to do with real life! Right? Right! Or maybe not so right....

You see, the other morning, I came across the turtle. I'd been living with it for years, without particularly thinking about it... until I studied about in my anatomy and physiology. I was learning about our three different types of muscular tissue when I saw it. As the saying goes, I saw the light.

Here's what I learned:

We have three types of muscle tissue: skeletal, cardiac and smooth.
Skeletal muscles are the ones we have control off. They're the ones in our arms, legs, fingers, toes... etc.
Cardiac muscle is in only one place - the heart. We don't have conscious control over this muscle, since it works continuously and automatically.
Smooth muscles are everywhere! Though the most prominent places are the blood vessel walls and the digestive tract. These muscles are involuntary, meaning they work without our conscious effort. But most importantly, they are slow-acting, untiring and steady in action. What's so important about that? Well, don't you see? That's the turtle! It wins the race by slow and steady. It gets that food digested, not in one or two big pushes, so to say, but slowly and steadily over a 5 hour period.

You see, we might live in a rush and bustle, all or nothing, now or never society; but our body remains old fashioned: slow and steady, faithful and true. I am the turtle.