The Brave Lizard

In the days before men walked the Earth there was a lizard. This lizard was unique among lizards. He had come to be known by his kin as the Brave Lizard. He showed no fear of death. When the cry of a hawk was heard, his family would scurry into their burrows, and he would continue to bask in the sun. His sense of self-preservation was non-existent and he spit in the face of death. Be it a bird, snake, or coyote he refused to run or hide. He truly believed himself to be in control at all times. Most of the lizards admired his bravery and viewed him as a role model. They aspired to be like him.

The Great Spirits felt quite differently, however. What the lizards viewed as bravery the spirits frowned upon. They understood his true nature, and it was not one of bravery, it was a nature of pride and arrogance. The lizard believed himself to be above death. When the others asked him why he was so brave, he replied “I am clever, and my wits are far beyond those of our predators, so why should I fear death? I have faced it many times and each time I have cheated it.” This angered the spirits to no end. He did not value the precious gift of life they had given him. But the Greats Spirits were not malevolent, and they cared greatly for all living things. They did not desire for him to die, rather they wished for him to understand the value of the gift of life. So the spirits devised a series of trials for the lizard, with the goal of inciting a revelation.

The first trial took the form of temptation. One day the lizard wandered through the woods. As he crawled through the forest and over the rocks he came upon a large clearing. In the center of this clearing there were numerous bushes of all types of berries. Blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, and cranberries among others filled the clearing. The lizard was ecstatic, he had never seen such a bounty of food! However as he approached the bushes he passes the bones of many creatures that tried before him to claim the prize, this place was clearly not safe. Of course the lizard, being his usual self, showed no regard for the danger. He reached the bushes and began to eat. He indulged in the consumption of every type of berry, and when he had finally been satisfied, his stomach was so full he could barely move.

As the lizard slept off his recent meal, the great owl landed in the clearing awakening the lizard from his slumber. The lizard shouted at him enraged “How rude! Don’t you know better than to disturb someone in their slumber?” The owl was shocked by this behavior and replied “Do you know who I am? Look at the bones around you! For your kind flees are the mere sound of my wings flapping in the distance! But your arrogance has led you to hedonism, and now you are too full to scurry away.”

And so the owl began to swoop towards the lizard, delighted at the easy meal he was soon to receive. But the Brave Lizard kept his wits among him. He crawled into the thorniest bush in the clearing to avoid the Owl’s talons. But owl was infuriated, and he would not be so easily defeated. For three days and three nights the owl waited for the lizard to exit the bush. But he had no reason to leave. And during this time the lizard enjoyed himself greatly, eating berries and jeering insults at the owl, until finally the owl grew weary and departed. And the lizard returned home.

Rather than change his ways he continued living his life as a fool. The wit of the lizard impressed even the great spirits. But they would persist, as their anger grew with the lizard’s arrogance. They devised one final plan to show the lizard the error of his ways.

One day the lizard crawled down to the river to quench his thirst. When he reached the river he began to drink, and on the opposite bank of the river he watches as every bug imaginable swarmed around a dead fish. He immediately began to focus attention on the problem at hand, how to reach his next meal. As he crawled upstream he found a branch that had fallen across the river. However this branch was clearly not stable, and below it swirled the rapids of the river.

The lizard’s arrogance presented itself once again, and so he decided to cross on the branch. During his crossing the branch snapped, and he was cast into the raging currents below. He tried desperately to escape the current. It held him place as began to tire and soon could he no longer had the strength to stay above the water. Terrible thoughts began to fill his head. “Was this it for him?” In the last seconds of consciousness he finally saw the error of his ways. He began to regret his reckless ways, he had not been brave, he had been foolish.

The sprits were satisfied with the Lizard’s change of heart. And so rather than let him perish in the currents, they swept him from the river and washed up upon the river bank. But he was no longer a lizard. The spirits bestowed a gift to the lizard to reflect his change of heart. A tough shell now covered the lizard’s back and stomach. And so he lived out the rest of his days as a turtle with a new appreciation for life.

This project was about an Outlier, a person who accomplishes extraordinary things. The Outlier I researched was Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook. He used his ideas about websites and business to create one of the most successful websites in the world.

The project above is my Graphic Resume. By creating it in Adobe Illustrator I created an eye catching resume that conveys my skills in a simple effective manner.

For this assignment I took a test to determine the types of jobs that I would enjoy. It helped me to really start considering what I want to do for a career, and opened my mind to several new options.

The only reason I have been able to plan for the next stage of my life is the people that support me like my family and teachers. I plan to study history in college and pursue a career in history because it is what I enjoy. There a jobs available in museums and as political advisers, and history teachers are always in demand. My plans to reach 10,000 hours of experience are to study in college and throughout my career to expand my knowledge.