15. PATIENCE – The Patience of Mary Anning
Little did she know it, but young Mary had just begun her life- long career as a paleontologist — a scientist who studies the fossils of animals and plants. At this time, the science of fossils was very new. Scientists were still trying to figure out what fossils were, how they got there, and how old they were. They used imaginative names for the curiosities they dug up, like “snakestones,” “devil’s toenails,” and “petrified serpents.” But this was not a concern of Mary’s on this day. No. All she knew was that if there was a skull in the cliff, the beast’s body must be hidden in the same cliff, and she would find it. Day after day, she patiently explored the cliff face, every crack, and jagged edge. Then one gusty day, a violent storm caused a landslide on the cliff, revealing what she was looking for: the tip of a fossil she knew belonged to the beast’s head. For the next twelve months, she patiently dug and scraped at the dirt and rocks around the edges of the fossilized bones. With each passing day, the entire skeleton’s massive size became more and more apparent to Mary.
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