Monarch Butterflies and Pacific Grove, Monterey County, California

I do not know if Pacific Grove, a tourist town by the Pacific Ocean with about 15,000 residents, still celebrates the arrival of Monarch butterflies each year. According to John Steinbeck’s book Sweet Thursday (1954), each year Monarch butterflies stopped at Pacific Grove and got "drunk" on the resinous sap from the local pine trees. It appears these butterflies know better than humans. They not only do not "drink" and "fly," they also include in their migration route one of the most scenic spots in the world. They stretched out their colorful black and orange wings all over the town to sober up before leaving. And many of them did get stepped on or run over during their stopover at Pacific Grove. In the past, these butterflies had kept the town’s merchants in business. The locals would be devastated financially if they had to cancel their annual butterfly festival due to the lack of flying visitors.

Now let’s picture the amazing sight of colorful butterflies everywhere. Wow! What a treat! - Ayee

A Neighborly Tom

A few days ago, a kind person shared with me a story of her precious friend.

While shopping at a nearby store, at the pet supplies section I saw an elderly woman getting a package of treats for cats. The kind of morsel makes cats zoom through walls and jump up to second floor balconies.

When I walked by her, she said to me cat treats are costing more now. Then with a gentle grin on her face she told me she does not own a cat. She buys the kibbles for a neighborhood pussy. It visits her from time to time. She spoke of her furry friend fondly. According to her, her good-natured four-legged visitor has many "human qualities." This roaming Casanova seems to understand how she feels.

In the past, I had also been told other stories on cats who enjoyed lasting friendship with lonely or sick people. In one of the stories, the cat cuddled up with a bedridden cancer patient next door during the day while its owners were away. Many of the cat owners might have wondered what were their pets doing during the days when they were home by themselves. Now we know at least some of our cats held day jobs working to bestow unconditional love to our neighbors.

What a wonderful story! I am pleased this kind lady shared it with me. - Ayee

Who is smarter than a 5th grader?

Last week, Kathy Cox, a school superintendent for the State of Georgia, became the first $1,000,000 winner on "Are you smarter than a 5th grader?" She answered all 11 questions right without using any "Cheats." When it was her turn to provide answers, she verbalized her thoughts before she answered. By using the process of elimination, she got the right answer. She did not have to use any "Cheats" while she was vetting her thoughts. She refused to "Drop-Out" (one of the "Cheats"). She said on the show that she wanted to prevent her students from dropping out of the schools. So she would not want to do it either.
Ms. Cox’s appearance on the game show did stir up some controversies in the State of Georgia when taxpayers there questioned their school superintendent’s priorities. But I would say her participation to the show as a contestant had done some good for the kids in Georgia. Firstly, the show is fun to watch even for the grown-ups. Secondly, it suggests that knowledge pays. This may prompt learning. I would think all the students in Georgia are extremely lucky to having an inspiring and knowledgeable leader like Kathy Cox. Adding more icing to the cake, her students will also be benefitted from the prize money she donated to their causes. - Ayes

Failure and Success

Here is one of the late John Steinbeck’s profound observations on humanity. This is what he had said in one of his many great works:

"The things we admire in men, kindness, and generosity, openness, honesty, understanding and feeling are the concomitants of failure in our system. And those traits we detest, sharpness, greed, acquisitiveness, meanness, egotism and self-interest are the traits of success. And while men admire the quality of the first they love the produce of the second."*

Evidently, greed, meanness, self-interest and dishonesty will remain to be the timeless prerequisites to succeed. Today there are many high-profile business and political leaders among us. Many of them had followed the harsh Draconian path to lead. And some of them acted randomly and did whatever they pleased.
We know it is not easy to change human nature.

But on the other side of the humanity, loving and generous people do exist. There are many of them. Some are well known and some are not. For example, the down-to-the-earth people like Warren Buffett and Bill Gates had spent billions on their desire to make our world a better one. I doubt either of them had ever had to use any harsh measure while pursuing their success in life. It seems that people can be successful in life through their kindness and understanding toward others. - Ayee

*"Cannery Row," John Steinbeck, 1945