4 Days Left to Live-Life Lessons Taught by a Rat

So...it's been two weeks since I last posted about my dear lab rat Grant. He only has four days left to live now. I've actually grown rather fond of the crimson-eyed O.C.D. vermin (and I say vermin in a very loving way). He does the cutest thing where he scraches his head. And I'm really going to miss watching him do that. So, even though his life has been rather short, and he hasn't been all that productive as a lab rat, he has taught me several crucial (or what I consider to be rather important) life lessons. So without further explanation, here are my life lessons taught by a rat (in no particular order).

1. Rats have their own personalities, just like people. For the first week Kimmy and I were desperately struggling to teach Grant what reinforcement was going to sound like. The funny thing is, when he finally passed off magazine training, our lab assistant had to watch him for almost fifteen minutes. You see, he was supposed to go from the back wall to the place where the water is dispensed ten times quickly. Grant however, is a stubborn little bugger and was much more inclined to go to the back wall once, drink the small drop of water he'd earned, then sit in the front corner for a minute or so before returning to the far wall. You could almost see the wheels in his little head turning as he sat in the front corner. He was probably thinking something along the lines of, "I know what you want me to do, but I don't feel inclined to do it right at this very moment, so you're going to have to wait." We have become quite convinced that he is a stubborn and lazy genius.

2. Rats don't always do what you want them to do when you want them to do it, sort of like children. I text my mom every day after the lab, usually to say something along the lines of, "Grant is stupid!" She tends to laugh at me and has commented more than once that this is a great lesson in patience for me that I'll be able to transfer over into parenting. As frustrated as this comment makes me, I know it's right (which in a roundabout way, almost makes things more frustrating). So I'm learning to be patient. VERY PATIENT. There was a day last week when we were only able to deliver ten reinforcers (in comparison to the eighty to a hundred the rats around us were receiving) because Grant sat in the front corner for nearly forty minutes, and then curled up and went to sleep.

3. Know how to utilize your time wisely. While Grant was being lazy and stubborn (as mentioned above) my partner Kimmy and I decided to study for the test we had in our behavior class the next day. That studying reassured me that I knew more of the chapters than I had initially thought, and I was glad that, even if my rat was being a lazy bum, I wasn't.

4. You never know when your time is going to be up, so you'd better make the best of it while you have the chance. This not only applies to the fact that Grant only has four days left to live period, this also relates to the fact that he can only receive water while in the operant chamber. He's in the operant chamber for about fifty minutes each day. If I were a rat who was on water deprivation, those fifty minutes would be pretty significant to me. I think I'd be doing about everything I possibly could to get my water. That's what this life test is like. We're on earth for just a short period of time. But that short period of time is crucial to our spiritual growth. It's a time to prove ourselves to our father in heaven. Doing everything that is right that is going to allow me to return to my heavenly father someday is like what Grant and the other rats do to get water. And like Grant, some days we are stubborn and look out at the world while thinking, "I know what you want me to do, but I don't feel inclined to do so right at this very moment, so you're going to have to wait." I'd like to think that I'm learning to eliminate those moments from my life. I want to do everything in my power during my time in the operant chamber of life, rather than discover that it's the end and I'm still thirsty.

5. You should probably give people just as much chance as you give to a white albino rat. In the beginning, I thought that Grant looked creepy...and sort of ugly. But after watching him struggle to receive water in the operant chamber, even on the first day, I started thinking he was adorable. I know there are many times I don't give people that same chance. I look at them and decide what I think without knowing a single thing about them. I hope to give people the same chance I gave my rat...and I hope that they'll give me that same chance.