This planet is an enormous, diverse bag of trail mix. God created the Earth, and it began to shake. As the big ball of dirt and water spun around its axis and circled the Sun, the M&Ms, the nuts, and the raisins began to separate themselves. We'll look at the humans as raisins, the animals as nuts, and the plants as M&Ms. Most people tend to clump together, we get lonely by ourselves, and flock to others for security, comfort, and entertainment--overall fulfillment. When we do, we begin to form little communities, and these raisin clumps climb to the top of the bag. Animals, setting aside the fact that humans technically do fall into this broad category, are very good at surviving and don't focus on much else. If they band together, it's for the purpose of ensuring the next meal (or that they won't become one for another animal), and so they never truly stick together like people do. Despite that lions have their prides and birds their flocks, they're quite separated creatures, and tend to fall beneath the raisin clumps at the top of the mix. That being said, a tiger could kill a man, should he be separated from his friends; likewise, a raisin could find itself below a nut, if it never clumped up with another of its kind. After all, I've never seen a bag of trail mix neatly separated into three distinct layers. Bringing up the rear, or landing at the bottom, are the plants. Unfortunately for whoever bought this snack, the M&Ms are simply the most delicious thing in the mix. In the same way, plants get picked on in nature. People eat salad. Giraffes chomp on leaves. Cows... you get the point. Plants get eaten, and they don't eat animals--not really. They're always at the bottom of the food chain and, similarly, the bottom of the bag. We literally step on them every time we go outside.
Cool story, the world has order to it. But I want to zoom in because no one really cares about the plants or the animals.
Some people just seem to rise to the top. They all rise for one reason: they're good at what they do. Einstein was a really good thinker. Fabio was really good looking. Michael Jordan was really good at basketball. It doesn't matter what you're good at, as long as you excel. That's what makes a person big in the bag of societal trail mix. I realize that I've just reduced the greatest human achievers to raisin clumps, but that's essentially what they become: a part of the mixture that's no more important than any other one to achieving the sweet and salty taste, but that reaches the top simply because of its size, and as a result, they get eaten. It's a strange and sad way to put it, but that's the reality; the pressure of fame and status in society often breaks people under its weight, leaving it up to historians to tell a more attractive and appreciable tale than the clusters of dried grapes often deserve.
Why would you even want to be a raisin clump? The idea isn't so bad. But when you're not expecting the sticky, sweet mass in what you thought was just an average handful, it makes you want to spit and sputter. But being an M&M would be the worst. First of all, nobody likes to be at the bottom, and, to make matters worse, you get picked on by the guy who bought the bag. Being the sweetest treat in the mix means being the most oppressed citizen in society. You get your rear end constantly booted by the man himself, and you never asked for this fate. Personally, I'd want to be a nut. They may not be the most delicious. They may not be on the top. But they're the only salty among the sweet and turn what would have been an indulgent, fattening treat into an energy-supplying balance of proteins and carbohydrates. What a role. I'm sure I don't have to draw out the parallel that can be drawn between the nut and the working, middle-class citizen.
In summary, don't be an M&M, keep in mind that it's okay be a clump of raisins, just understand that, at some point, you'll make someone cringe, and never forget the nut is the most valuable and least appreciated member of the trail mix team.
Just something to think about.
Good "food for thought"
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