059 One Masterpiece
Hey Pufferfish, you are the length of a hand, and for nine days you work the sand into a circle twenty times your own size. You will never use it twice.
Who puts everything into something they will only make once?
Have you ever put everything into something you will only make once?
On the sandy sea floor, divers found strange circles, about two metres wide, with ridges spreading out like a flower.
For years, no one knew who made them.
What really happens
The maker is a small male pufferfish, about the length of a hand. He swims along the sand, flapping his fins to carve the pattern, working for about nine days.
The circle helps attract a female. After she lays her eggs, he does not use it again. Next time, he builds a new one.
How we know: Kawase and colleagues, Scientific Reports, 2013, described these circles made by a pufferfish off Japan.
The turn
We often hold back our best effort for something that will last forever.
The pufferfish gives everything to something that lasts only one season.
Three takeaways
- Give full effort, even to things that will not last.
- Beauty does not have to be permanent to matter.
- Craft is its own reward.
Make it once. Make it beautiful.
Let right deeds be / Thy motive, not the fruit which comes from them.