Roll your stone on over here...

There are some penguins that are common along the Antarctic coast called the Adelie Penguins.  If you would like to learn more about them I have included the link from my friends (they are not really my friends but I use it almost as much as Google, so I feel close to them) at Wikipedia.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad%C3%A9lie_Penguin

If you enjoy penguins I am sure this information will fascinate you, or perhaps just be interesting to say the least.  I love penguins for various reasons, many of which are not why I am posting about them in this blog, (and of which would probably actually bore you to death,) but I saw an article on them the other day (or maybe it was just a little blurb) and it fascinated me.

Stones are huge to penguins.  I don’t mean that they live around big rocks, I mean stones play a vital role in a lot of species of penguins’ lives.  Primarily used for nesting, Adelie penguins get very aggressive when other Adelie’s steal their stones.  It is noted that these penguins are quite full of themselves and act very childlike or childish rather.  That still isn’t what fascinates me. 

When it is time to mate, a male Adelie penguin rolls a stone toward a female’s feet.  If she accepts, they will mate.  If she doesn’t, they won’t.   Sometimes they mate for life, but it is not uncommon for them to stay together for several years and then just not return to their mate, and roll another stone…

Why does that fascinate me?  The simplicity of it.  Here…look at this pretty little stone…do you like?  Yeah?  Ok, let’s have babies.  No? Ok, I will find someone else who will like it.  No drama, no B.S., no lying, cheating, stealing, just a simple yes or no.  No asking why, no crying, no looking in a mirror and comparing, no nonsense.  No?  Moving along then…He doesn’t sit there and MAKE her like the stone…he just rolls it on over to the next lady penguin. 

Why can’t we do that?  As humans.  Not necessarily in regards to mating, although if you think about it, that does happen now…Hey lady, you like this rock?…well you get the idea.  What I really mean is just the simplicity in finding a partner.  One that sticks with you and is faithful.  Even if it is not forever…but they share the task of raising the babies.  It’s not one sided.  Just a really simple gesture that doesn’t get blown up and broken down if the female doesn’t accept the pebble.

It will never be that simple for humans.