Does a Successful Zebra Need His Stripes?
Imagine you’re a lion. It’s dawn on the Serengeti, and you’re hungry.
Off in the distance is a herd of zebra. You’re down wind. You can smell the herd but they can’t smell you. You crouch closely to the earth, stealthily move closer, your padded feet not making a sound.
The zebra slowly mingle in the herd. Your only hope of catching one is to single it out from the rest, but which? The stripes of one blend seamlessly into the stripes of the next, creating a vermiculite tapestry of white and black. How do you focus on any individual when you can’t determine where one begins and the other ends?
Wait. What’s that? One zebra is grazing apart from the others. You can see every detail. It’s nostrils contract with each inhale and expand as each breath leaves its body. You watch its tail idly swatting at flies as it slowly steps forward to reach the next succulent blade of grass.
You are now focused on the one, rather than being confused by the many.
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