Day 23: Speed Kills

Speed kills.

Fun question: Say, you’re about to compete in a race of 100 meters with an animal, and you are equipped with the most powerful engine in the world of car engines, coupled with the most modernized car on Earth. You’re pretty sure the odds are in your favor, right?

Not exactly.

Meet the cheetah, the fastest land animal on the planet. It can reach an impressive speed of 75 miles per hours. With this speed, no other animals can catch up, or escape the reach of this big cat. But a F1 race car can reach 150 or more miles per hour, so why would you lose a race of 100 meters with this little guy? As it turns out, speed is only half of the equation. What’s impressive about the cheetah is its acceleration, going from 0 to 60 mi/h in a mere three seconds. That translates into an acceleration of 20 miles per second square. Things that fall from the sky due to gravity only reach the ground with the acceleration of 9.8.  Cheetah is a blur and will put anything in dust anytime, even your F1 car. Therefore, it is one of the most feared and efficient hunter anywhere on Earth, even when its prey can travel at well more than 50 mi/hr.

To be successful, you need to keep moving. And fast.

Speed kills.

Spiders, especially the golden African spiders (look it up if you please), use speed to kill. But they don’t use their speed to kill. They use their prey’s speed. Special fibers produced by the spider form webs that act as traps. The faster the insect fly into the web, the harder it is for it to escape. Strong, sticky and flexible, spider web has been the dream of the industrialized age. But this silk is by no mean safe. With flexibility that rivals the most outstanding rubber, the strength that shame every body armor ever made, if you fly headfirst into this net, your fate is decided.

To survive, you need to avoid moving too fast. Or don’t move into the web at all.

Speed kills.

I know you’re confused. Sorry, I’ve been watching National Geographic too much these days. But see, look at the contrast in the nature. On one hand, you need to keep moving, or you’ll die hungry. On the other hand, you need to slow yourself down, or you’ll die in another’s stomach. I guess, it is in a way that demonstrates the balance of what one should do to survive and thrive. In life, the same principle applies. You have to keep moving with the flow, or you’re left behind, alone and desperate. But at the same time, you have to see where you’re going, to slow down enough to avoid all the traps that life is throwing at you. You have to have time for yourself, to relax, to catch your breath, to break down, to cry, to laugh, to be angry, and to welcome all the emotions within you. But you cannot be too cautious. You have to take risk. You cannot be stagnated in your life to the point where everyday is a boring routine of unproductivity. Risks can be painful. Risks can be traps. But you need to take it. We have to take risks, from first time riding a bike, asking someone’s out, getting a job, marrying, investing,… but not be stupid about it, such as binge drinking, overdosing, violating laws,.. Sometimes, the line can be blurred. But guess what? Nobody is perfect.

Even the cheetah misses its prey.

Even some lucky escapes the web of death.

It’s okay to make mistakes. It’s okay to take risks. It’s okay to fall into traps. It’s okay to miss the opportunity.

It’s not okay to not move forward.

So keep running, readers.             

Speed kills.

                                                            Best regards,

                                                            Denny