Ever seen a remora? They look like mini-sharks. If you’re not careful, they can scare the living daylights out of you as you may think that it’s a shark swimming right up to you – especially if you happen to be swimming off of the back of a boat at night….
Anyways, remoras latch onto sharks and other really big, scary-looking sea creatures like Manta Rays. They are gutsy little buggers! Look at this little feller. He latched onto a Tiger Shark. He’s also smart. He’s attached himself to a big guy with a reputation. He won’t have to worry about another shark trying to eat him, and he won’t go hungry as he can feed off the left-overs.
There’s nothing wrong with being a remora.
When I first started working for EdTechTeacher in 2011, no one knew who I was beyond my small school, on a small island, in the smallest state. I was given a great opportunity to be a remora. I latched onto Greg Kulowiec, Shawn McCusker, and Suzy Brooks and followed them around gobbling up whatever I could.
A few weeks ago, I had the privilege of meeting up with Patrick Larkin at the Christa McCauliffe Conference. It was another great day of being a remora. I followed Patrick, learned from him, and met others thanks to his kind introductions. It’s at that point that I truly realized that value of recognizing the sharks and positioning yourself to feed off of them and be pulled along in their wake.
Remoras move between species and can also be found independently in open water. Over the past few years, as I’ve met more people, and learned how to grow my PLN (thanks to tutelage the original trio), I’ve found other sharks to latch onto. Sometimes, I’ve even been perceived as a small shark!
In this clearly inarticulate fable, I think the moral may be this: there will always be a bigger shark, so don’t hesitate to latch on and go for a ride. You never know where it may take you.