Aaron Evans – Block: B – English 9 – Ms. Tate Sep 9th 2018

All About Me

     Snails. They’re great. What can’t they do? A lot but that doesn’t keep them from being fascinating. My earliest memory of snails was from when I was at school. The sky was cloudy and dark as if a curtain and been pulled over the sky. While I was walking through the gravel field that crunched beneath my feet, I caught sight of a snail. My knowledge of snails at the time was limited and the only thing I truly knew about snails was how slow they are. Snails move remarkably slow approximately a fifth of a kilometer in a day, they also excrete a thin layer of mucus wherever they go. Like most mucus it is a viscous, sticky liquid and it also protects them from nearly all surfaces they crawl over. At the time I didn’t know this, after all snails only look like a slow and boring gastropod but everyone knows deep down that isn’t true. There isn’t much to snails at first sight, and they’re nearly silent but up close you could mistake the sound of a snail for the sound of someone eating jello quietly. You won’t only see a snail on a plant but also a plate. Escargot is a dish that consists of your favourite gastropod, the snail. These snails are often served in a rich bath of butter and garlic, although most people may consider this as unsettling, for many others it is a delicacy. Snails are so exciting, they move slow, are small, and have a shell, so it would be no surprise that snails changed my life a few days ago.

     I woke up in my bed refreshed as if a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. Ready for a new day I rolled onto my feet and walked over to my chair. In my chair I turned on my computer. At first, I couldn’t find topics to write about for a writing assignment when snails crossed my mind. “Snails they’re pretty neat” I thought and that’s when I got the idea for my assignment, this idea changed my life and what I would write about. Snails may not have made a large impact upon my life, but they did have an impact. If someone ever asks, “Hey I wonder if snails change shells like hermit crabs” I can tell them “No their shell is a part of them and without their shell they die from drying out”. Without snails I would know nothing about them and how they look. Snails are so inspirational, they move excruciatingly slow, yet they haven’t gone extinct from predators, so far, I strive to be like the snail, slow and alive.