The journey lasted for weeks and weeks, and the weather was getting colder and colder until the boat ran into a storm. In the chaos that ensued, the giraffe fell overboard just before the boat sank.
By some stroke of luck, however, he managed to swim to a very close shore.
It was very odd and unlike anything he had seen before. First of all, it had no colour - just an endless field of blinding white. Then, it was cold - as cold as the water he had been in moments before. He started to shiver as he took a few hesitant steps. Boy, was it slippery!
He had landed on an ice field.
Now our giraffe was a very clever creature. His height and long neck allowed him to reach the highest foliage to feed, and his tongue was grooved to easily strip leaves from branches.
Pity there were no trees to feed from, only ice.
His patches of brown and tan made great camouflage on the yellow, sun-beaten grasslands of Africa.
But the giraffe wasn't in a brown and tan grassland. He was on a dazzling white ice field, and he really stood out.
The giraffe had beautiful, long lashes around his eyes that were very useful to keep insects out.
Only, there were no insects on the ice field.
His wide hooves and nimble legs gave him good balance and the ability to run fast.
However, his hooves slipped on the ice and he couldn't run.
All of our giraffe's wonderful characteristics were completely useless, sometimes even a hindrance, because he wasn't in the right environment.
That giraffe, my friends, is me.
I know, to some extent how this feels my friend.
ReplyDeleteHey there Kit, Sebastian here.
Did you make up this story yourself or did you find it somewhere. Either way, you have real talent as a writer...
Such an ability to communicate whst is going on inside you and to express what you can see in your worldview.
Thank you Seb! I made it up. I was ranting about my job and blurted out to Nicholas, "I feel as much in the right place as a giraffe on an ice field!"
DeleteEvery single one of us feels out of place. Sometimes more often than we will admit. I think the ones (like you Kit) who can figure out that they feel out of place and articulate it are better off.
ReplyDeleteThank you. There are occasions when I feel exactly in the right place, though - like when I spend time with people I really trust, or with Nicholas, or online. There have been other times when I felt like I was exactly in the right place work-wise. It's a good feeling and I miss it.
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