Squonk - Killing What You Desire

The Squonk lives in the hemlock forests of Pennsylvania. So ugly that it cries constantly, its trail of years makes it easy for hunters to catch.

The bad news for hunters is that if you do a catch a Squonk, it will dissolve into a pool of tears.

The secret of human contentment, I am convinced, is in having enough challenge to make life interesting, enough food, drink and shelter to make life bearable, and sufficient ambition to have an aim that doesn't ruin other people's lives.

Too many divorces have been caused by someone trying to make the boss happy, in the search of more pay and a little boxy room to sit in - only to discover that the children have grown up. Really, like monks and Popes, anyone genuinely ambitious in business should have to take a vow of chastity. Then they can get their kicks on achievement without dragging others into it. So their kids don't grow up wondering where one or both of their parents are. It's bad enough when circumstances force that on people. But to choose it?

Alas, when the silver cord is severed, and the golden bowl is broken; the pitcher is shattered at the spring, and the wheel broken at the well, and the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it - then who cares what car you drove, if you were an absent parent or partner? “Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. “Everything is meaningless! It is like chasing after a Squonk!