There are only a couple times in my life I can remember pulling over on the side of the road to help out a hard-shelled traveling turtle. My initial experience was one that left me feeling like an all-time hero. After all, no one before me had noticed the plight of this little guy just wanting to get from one green pasture to another greener, but I did! And more than that, I stopped on a pretty steady highway to give the assist!

All in all, it seemed as though the little guy was grateful. He didn’t necessarily tell me in so many words. If he had tried, I most likely wouldn’t have had time to listen to him attempt to make a complete statement of gratitude since I was rather in a hurry before our encounter. I say that simply because I imagine if turtles speak at any speed resemblan to their movement, it may very well have taken quite a while to express his thankfulness.

Nonetheless, because of his meek & humble acceptance of my hurried assistance, he lived. He actually survived the torturous attempt to move his slow-moving body…house…house body…weighing a whopping 4 pounds or thereabouts, perpendicularly to the single ton collections of scrap metal wheeling along barely looking up from cell phones while accidentally placing the inside tires three or four inches beyond the imaginary boundary of the double solid yellow line down the middle.

The bottom line is this: in trying to cross the road, he had many things working against him, not the least of which was his refusal to speed up a little. However, with some help, he did, in fact, survive the crossing of the road.

My second recollection was far less pleasant while being just as memorable as the first. On my second attempt to be Superman to the reptile world, the recipient of my assistance was not nearly as friendly as the first.

Although I’ve never attempted to help a snapping turtle cross the road, I have definitely experienced one with a similar personality. I’m not certain if the poor guy had just experienced a bad day because of a breakup or business deal gone awry, but he was certainly in no mood to be helped across the road. I can only assume he preferred to try to make the journey by himself rather than rely on some human, so that he could take all the credit for himself when he finally reached the other side.

His reaction to my facilitation was not only unsolicited but, apparently, unwelcome also, & he wanted to ensure that I knew that in no uncertain terms. After a few hisses & failed snaps at my hands, it was time to let the grumpy old turtle go on his merry way in hopes that the next eighteen to twenty-two feet would soon be behind him.

Despairingly, it was upon my traveling back home on the very same road after running a few errands, I found my cantankerous acquaintance covering more of the road now than in his original condition. He was “across” the road, but had not crossed the road. Surely, you understand what I mean by now.

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Inside of this tale lies an important truth for those of us who have a difficult time with change & those of us who refuse to allow anyone to help us change.

(1) Change can be difficult to navigate, as was the thirty feet of asphalt standing between the two turtles & the other side.

(2) A change will sometimes be risky, often demanding, & always require something of us. Both turtles had to asses whether or not the change was worth the risk. Only one decided to face the risk with any help.

(3) Change is better when we work together. A turtle & a human working together helped the change of one turtle go much more smoothly, while the refusal of a human’s help merely helped the other turtle be smooth. The same goal of two working together was the difference in turtle life & death.

(4) Change is coming one way or another. We are on a constant pathway toward change. I don’t know if both turtles set out to cross the road or not, but both found themselves in the same situation of being in the middle of a road for some reason. I don’t know the circumstances leading up to that point for either, but I do know that one was grouchy about & the other grateful for the help to make it the rest of the way. We’ll all find ourselves smack dab in the middle of some change one day. How will we respond to those who could help us navigate the rest of the way?