sucking the stuff from the bones

Today's snail: Elimia arachnoidea | Spider Elimia

Today's snail: Elimia arachnoidea | Spider Elimia

Changjiang sturgeon / Yangtze sturgeon (Sinosturio dabryanus)

formerly endemic to the Yangtze river system in eastern China

population sharply declined in recent centuries from overfishing and habitat degredation

captive-bred individuals have been released back into the upper and middle stretches of the river since 2007, but wild breeding has yet to be recorded

[Calliston3 / CAFS]

in loving memory of that one orange fish we ALL flushed down the toilet at the ripe age of 6

Sitting down at the table, I remembered the scars on my arm. The universal signifier of "This Kid Needs Help." Maybe his kindness was only out of pity. He saw those and assumed there was some great misery and wanted to offer me some relief. It's generally good to be kind to people who are hurting. But I wasn't hurting that bad.

The thing is, there is some great misery. People generally aren't doing that great. There is a great misery within me and within him and within everyone, and some people notice the pain, some people express it, others don't. But we all suffer from something.

It doesn't matter if someone seems to deserve some relief. Everyone needs it. Everyone is suffering constantly. Some more than others, but still. This Kid Needs Help applies to everyone.

Thirty minutes later, I went to get a second pastry, intending to pay and leave a tip this time. It was the same cashier. As he reached to grab it for me, I saw scars on his arm.