The Scorpion & the Butterfly (Part 2)

As their friendship continued to blossom days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months. Through the course of time the scorpion and the butterfly got to know each other pretty well. They spent hours talking about everything and nothing. They would play games and chase each other around. Every now and then their games would get a little out of control and inevitably one of them would get hurt. They also discovered that from time to time their natural instincts would override their better judgment causing one or both of them to act irrationally and unpredictably. Sometimes the butterfly would fly away and not come back for long periods of time because, after all, that is what butterflies tend to do. Still whenever that would happen the scorpion would find it very hurtful. Sometimes the butterfly would fly so far away that the scorpion half expected never to see the butterfly again. It never occurred to the scorpion that a butterfly staying in one place for long periods of time was pretty odd, let alone staying in one place to spend time with a scorpion. Very seldom do they stay in one place for very long unless they are resting their wings or feeding. Sometimes when the butterfly would get too close for very long the scorpion would try to pinch with its claws or strike at the butterfly with its tail. Occasionally the butterfly would not react fast enough and get injured. Then the scorpion would feel bad and apologize for what happened.

Although the scorpion and the butterfly knew that they were very different from each other the scorpion and the butterfly never seemed to pay too much attention to that fact, which may have been why they had problems from time to time. Outside observers didn’t understand how they could ignore their differences but the scorpion and the butterfly didn’t care. Maybe if the scorpion and the butterfly had done a better job of listening to their friends and others who observed their friendship they wouldn’t have hurt each other so much and some of the pain and injuries they experienced could have been avoided. When it came to their friendship the scorpion and the butterfly seemed to be oblivious to the implications of such a friendship. From the scorpion's perspective the friendship was one of those little unexpected, happy accidents. The scorpion didn’t question their friendship; the scorpion simply chose to accept it.

One day the scorpion was traveling about, going on with its normal routine as usual when it began to wonder “Why are the butterfly and I friends?” “How long can this continue?” “Is this friendship going to last?” To the scorpion those were very intriguing questions, questions that needed to be answered. So the scorpion thought, and thought, and thought some more. The scorpion talked things over with its friends and got all kinds of answers but nothing definite or unified. There was no consensus among the scorpion’s friends as to the questions that had come up. Eventually the scorpion came to its own conclusions and confronted the butterfly the very questions that had caused the scorpion so much concern. The butterfly was shocked and didn’t know what to say. At this point I feel that it is important to point out something that you might not know and that is that scorpions can be the most impulsive creatures you will ever meet. So when the butterfly said nothing at first the scorpion reacted impulsively and shared its conclusions with the butterfly. This impulsive act only served to further stun and confuse the butterfly even more. You see butterflies are not nearly as impulsive as scorpions. Butterflies like to float around and think about things before jumping to conclusions. If you wanted to compare the two another way in this case you could say that scorpions have a switch with two positions the first position is “off”, and the second position is “fast.” Butterflies on the other hand have a switch with at least three positions, maybe four. The first position just like with scorpions is “off”, the second position is “slow”, the third position is “medium”, and the fourth position is “fast.” However, I would like to point out that in the case of butterflies “fast” is hardly ever used if at all. A butterflies two favorite positions are slow and medium. Butterflies just don’t tent to act or make decisions quickly and impulsively.

When the discussion was over the only thing that the scorpion and the butterfly could agree on was that neither one of them would do anything for a while until both of them could come to an understanding about the issues that had been raised. After all the butterfly agreed that the question the scorpion had been asking were valid and certainly deserved to be answered. The butterfly was just unwilling to jump to any sort of conclusion and make snappy judgment. The butterfly was also a little scared that the scorpion could operate and act so quickly without taking what seemed to be a reasonable amount of time to think things over. The scorpion found itself frustrated with how slow the butterfly seemed to respond and react. Even so the scorpion made more of an effort to see things from the butterfly’s perspective. The scorpion worked hard at being more patient with the butterfly knowing full well that in the end, the butterfly still may not agree with the conclusions that the scorpion had reached. 

The Scorpion & the Butterfly (Part 1).

Have you ever heard the saying “opposites attract”? Well what could be more opposite than a scorpion and a butterfly? Oh, sure there are plenty of things that would make better examples but, I’m not sure many of them would make for an interesting story and boy do I have one for you! The story begins with the scorpion. Now this scorpion from all outward appearances was pretty ordinary. The scorpion had the typical features of any other scorpion such as six legs, claws, and a tail with a stinger on the tip. This scorpion wasn’t unique in terms of its color or species. It was a typical brown scorpion, like the ones you might find in North America. What made this scorpion different was the fact that it was a dreamer. This particular scorpion dreamed of traveling to far off places and seeing things that most other scorpions had never seen before.

One day the scorpion finally got a chance to make all of its dreams become a reality. The scorpion found its way into a shipping container and off it went. It was an adventure the scorpion would never forget. The journey was long and although it wasn’t particularly hard on the scorpion there were times when the scorpion found itself wondering when the journey would come to an end and then all of a sudden the journey was over. The shipping container that the scorpion had snuck into had finally reached its destination. Because the scorpion didn’t know where the shipping container was headed it didn’t have any expectations about the destination. Oh, sure, the scorpion had wondered about what the final stop might look like. The scorpion had dreamed about the different possibilities. Even so nothing could have prepared the scorpion for what it was going to encounter in this new place because it was so very different from where the scorpion had lived its entire life.

Everything was strange and new to the scorpion. The terrain was unlike anything the scorpion had ever encountered before. Even after the scorpion finally found a place to live it kept getting lost because nothing about its new environment was familiar. The air smelled different, the sun was at a different place in the sky than the scorpion was used to seeing it. The native creatures that the scorpion encountered looked similar to what it was used to seeing where it had grown up but they all acted so strangely. On any given day the scorpion could be surprised or caught off guard repeatedly by the behaviors of the creatures that lived in the surrounding area. And did I mention the food? In many instances the scorpion struggled to figure out what to eat or how to locate anything to eat. When the scorpion finally did figure out what to eat, it usually had a peculiar smell or strange taste. Mostly it was just different.

One day while exploring this new place the scorpion noticed a butterfly because it had been hovering over the area and finally landed a short distance away. Deciding to investigate the scorpion gradually got closer to the butterfly. As the scorpion neared where the butterfly had landed it began to see just how brilliant and beautiful the butterfly really was. This butterfly was truly a sight to behold. It was unlike any butterfly the scorpion had ever seen before. It was sky blue and neon pink with silver spots. The sky blue and neon pink seemed to intermingle, almost as if God had taken the two colors, twirled them together and then gently laid them on the butterfly’s wings. Oh, and the wings. They were enormous! As the scorpion got closer the butterfly flew away. As the butterfly flew away the scorpion admired the grace and elegance with which it floated through the air. Although the butterfly was a beautiful sight to behold the scorpion never expected to encounter it again.

A few weeks later as the scorpion was traveling about in its new surroundings when much to its delight the butterfly reappeared. This time the butterfly seemed oddly drawn to the simple little scorpion and they began to talk. Without any explanation, rhyme or reason the two of them hit it off and became instant friends. The scorpion and the butterfly spent hours with each other talking and carrying on. Their friends had no idea what to make of it. After all what do a scorpion and a butterfly have to talk about? The truth was that it was as much a mystery to the scorpion and the butterfly as it was to their friends. Neither the scorpion nor the butterfly understood the connection that they had or why it was there, they only knew that it was.