Degrees of Precision (The Purpose of the Pelican)

The waves roll against the gray clouds and crash against the rocks. The sun has long since disappeared and the wind is blowing again, colder than before. And amidst it all, a lone pelican scours the churning sea for something to eat, doing what it must to fly again tomorrow.

What purpose is there to the pelican catching fish on the ocean? I mean, that one pelican will catch a number of fish in its life, interact with few, if any, humans, and will likely leave no lasting mark to distinguish its having ever existed. My only problem with this is the fact that a pelican is an awfully complex way of going about all this. You've got a living organism, capable of flight of all things, metabolizing resources and surviving just long enough to die... why? Seems like a rather complicated way of accomplishing nothing of significance.

I pity the pelican, leading such a meaningless life. The life of a human is so much more meaningful, our complex thoughts and feelings filling us with vindication and purpose. For some that purpose is love, others family, others money, but to everyone there is a purpose that keeps them going every day. All due to the wonderful things the pelican will never understand.

Of course, the more you think about it, the more each of our complex actions and desires can be broken down into those of the pelican. True, the pelican doesn't understand its existence, but neither do we. We work, love, and pray to survive, both now and in the future. The only difference between us and the pelican is that our ignorance has achieved an unprecedented level of precision. We look at our place in the universe and know precisely what it is we don't know: our true purpose.

All the pelican has to do is catch fish.