Beauty

I've been on holiday this week in Ocean City, New Jersey with Michele's family.  Her parents have been hiring a holiday house in OC for the past 15 years, and it's been wonderful to watch our kids reunite with their cousins each year, and to see them all growing up.  The eldest will be off to university next year, no idea where that time went.  The long sandy days on the beach, and the simmering nights on the boardwalk will surely be things they remember about their grandparents in years to come.

In recent years, I've taken to getting up early - around 5, but sometimes earlier - to stretch, walk on the beach, maybe take a dip before anyone else is in.  These solitary moments give me time to reflect, clear my head, and appreciate the beauty around me.  I've clogged my Instagram feed with an assortment of clouds, flowers, sand, and birds - basically anything that at least at the time makes me feel positive and happy.

One thing I am really finding difficult to see the beauty in, though, is the horseshoe crab.

I mean really, this has got to be among the ugliest creatures alive.  It's not even a crab; it's a relative of the spider.  Its anatomy has been largely unchanged over that past half a billion years. It's got 9 eyes and blue blood.  Its shell has a set of pointed spines that resemble two rows of teeth.  Its tail looks as if it could put a hole in your foot the size of a nickle.  If one is looking for evidence that life on earth was seeded by aliens, one could do worse than to consider this horror, (along with pretty much anything that finds its way into your camper van in Australia).

It's a protected species here in New Jersey, not for its own intrinsic value, but because some other endangered species feeds on its eggs. Now that's a second class citizen if ever there was one.

And yet, these repulsive creatures are gentle, giving things.  They don't sting or bite.  They exist mainly as a food source for other animals.  Their blood produces an agent that is used to ensure that bacteria hasn't contaminated intravenous drugs during production.  Without it, turtles and birds would go hungry on their migratory journeys, and pharmaceuticals would kill people.

So it seems that you really can't judge a book by its cover, or the value of a creature by its appearance.  Consider that the next time you encounter something repulsive.