Everything I Need To Know I Learned Hatching Turkeys...

When it's time to hatch, the first turkey out of the shell is typically the hardest hatch; it takes a long time. There is no one on the outside to encourage them, nothing out there to look forward to except the solitary quiet of the great unknown. It must be scary, breaking through the hard shell and tough membrane of a warm, dark and cozy home, expending great effort pushing away from the known and the safe.

But if you are a turkey, what is the first thing you do after you catch your breath?

You don't sit and dwell on how clever you are, how you must be the smartest, strongest turkey in the world to have overcome great obstacles to learn a wonderful secret. You don't bitterly reflect that you earned this knowledge or strength, and believe that others should have to do things the same hard way that you did.

Instead, you move over to the next guy in line, you stand on your wobbly legs, and you yell your encouragement in to the tiny hole in his little comfy warm place. You let him know he's not alone. You want him to succeed, too.

In so many difficult human endeavors, we tend to hoard the strength and the knowledge we gain when we come through a great struggle or learning experience. We forget to be mentors and teachers and friends. We forget how frightening or frustrating it was for us to go it alone, to be the first one to come through something new or difficult. We forget to get out there and yell our encouragement to others, even if we haven't met them yet.

Sometimes, those we encourage become our most beautiful, and valued, friends.