Visitors since December 1999.
BUTTERFLY
(A True Story)
A family in my neighborhood once brought in two cocoons that were just about to hatch. They watched as the first one began to open and the butterfly squeezed very slowly and painfully through a tiny hole that it chewed in one end of the cocoon. After lying exhausted for about ten minutes following its agonizing emergence, the butterfly finally flew out the window on its beautiful wings.
The family decided to help the second butterfly so that it would not have to go through such an excruciating ordeal. So, as it began to emerge, they carefully sliced open the cocoon with a razor blade, doing the equivalent of Caesarian section. The second butterfly never did sprout wings, and in about 10 minutes, instead of flying away, it quietly died.
The family asked a biologist friend to explain what had happened.
The scientist said that the difficult
struggle to emerge from the small hole actually pushes liquids from deep
inside the butterfly's body cavity into the tiny capillaries
in the wings, where they harden
to complete the health and beautiful adult butterfly.
WITHOUT THE STRUGGLE, THERE ARE
NO WINGS.
Visitors since December 1999.