September 6, 2025
Every day I share a Thought of the Day and Question of the Day, two little sparks meant to get us thinking, laughing, or sometimes both. Today’s combination hits on something serious (Hemingway’s reminder about resilience) and something a little silly (what animal or creature power would you love to have?). Together, they’re actually more connected than you might think.
Thought of the Day: Man is not made for defeat
“Man is not made for defeat. A man can be destroyed but not defeated.” — Ernest Hemingway
When Hemingway wrote that line, he wasn’t sitting around thinking about soccer games or video game boss levels. He was talking about the deep-down human spirit, our refusal to give in, even when life is grinding us into the dust.
I’ve felt that push and pull in my own life plenty of times. With kids running circles around me, work deadlines closing in, and chores multiplying like bunnies, there are days when it feels like I’m on the losing side of everything. The laundry pile alone sometimes looks like it’s plotting my destruction. But defeated? That’s different. Defeat is about giving up, about quitting on yourself. And as Hemingway reminds us, that’s not who we’re built to be.
I think about mornings when I wake up after six hours of interrupted sleep and still manage to show up, both at work and for my family. Or when I’m staring at a blinking cursor, brain empty, and somehow the words still come (eventually). Maybe I don’t always “win” in the conventional sense, but I keep swinging. And that, to me, is the real point of Hemingway’s thought: persistence itself is a kind of victory.
If you’ve read my earlier reflection in Life Finds a Way, you know I believe resilience is baked into us. Like weeds pushing up through concrete, we keep finding ways to grow, even when everything seems stacked against us.
Question of the Day: What creature power would you love to have?
I’ll admit it—I didn’t really know much about creature powers until my kids discovered the show Wild Kratts. Suddenly I’m learning about things like the gecko’s wall-scaling stickiness or the deep-sea turtle’s ability to hold its breath underwater for hours. Powers I never even knew existed.
Two that would make life easier:
- Scaling walls like a gecko. Imagine skipping the ladder for home repairs. Need to grab something from the attic? Just Spider-Man your way up there. My kids would think I was the coolest dad alive. (Until they figured out I could also climb up to confiscate their hidden candy stash.)
- Breathing underwater like a sea turtle. No more panicked rushes to the surface after 20 seconds of flailing in the pool. Plus, snorkeling trips would finally feel less like near-death experiences and more like, well, fun.
What fascinates me is how these “powers” already exist in the natural world. They’re not comic book inventions. They’re real abilities that help creatures survive—sometimes against all odds. Which circles us right back to Hemingway. Nature itself is proof that resilience is everywhere. Each animal has a way of refusing defeat, whether it’s camouflage, speed, strength, or pure stubbornness.
In a way, our creature powers as humans are less flashy but just as effective: hope, humor, and the ability to keep showing up. If you’ve ever pushed through a bad day with nothing but a sarcastic laugh and a cup of coffee, you know exactly what I mean.
If this topic made you smile, you might also enjoy What’s Something That’s Really Scary at 3 AM but Perfectly Normal at 3 PM? or my reflection on The Worst Thing About Autumn. Both dive into life’s quirks, sometimes scary, sometimes funny—but always worth exploring.
Join the Conversation
So—what about you? What creature power would you love to have? Would you glide through the skies, camouflage like a chameleon, or maybe sprint cheetah-fast just to make it to your morning meeting on time?
Leave a comment below and share your pick. And if you want to get the Thought of the Day and Question of the Day delivered straight to your inbox, join my free daily email here.