Aggressive Appetites

I
I am so glad the Internet didn't exist when I was a child, as I have a voracious appetite for random facts. I read and re-read the encyclopedia, studied the dictionary page by page, looked closely and often at National Geographic, and wore out the atlas as a child.

I would be hopeless today.

I am hopeless today.

I often forget what I log in to look for because I find one thing, and then another, and then another.

II
Some folks hunger for fame or money or advancement in a job.

One of my problems is that I have never had ambition. To do anything or be anything.

But there are things I cannot resist -- popcorn and chocolate, among them.

III
Dragonflies and damselflies are ravenous. 

Throughout their life cycles, they eat and eat and eat, to move through developmental stages or instars. When they emerge from the water, they eat to achieve sexual maturity, to reproduce, to extend their species. And I mean they eat and eat and eat everything they can snag. (They are flesh-eaters.)

This female Fragile Forktail snatched a large winged something and found a solid perch to consume it. While I was watching and snapping a male flew straight at her head and tried to steal her prey, but to no effect. 

(The WWE is a kindergarten tantrum compared to the aggressive display of Odonates at a pond.)

IV
Appetite can become gluttony in humans, and gluttony may be physical or spiritual. "Supersize" doesn't just refer to a fast-food order. The news reports on dishonest investors and corporate executives padding their pockets, disparity of wealth in this country, competition among stars and athletes for face-time all point to aggressive appetites.

V
Some of us need to go on diets.

But not my Odonates.