Life and death....a knife edge?

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

This may be a somewhat unusual post for me.
Yesterday I observed a black cat in my garden with something at his nose. I immediately feared the worst - that he had caught one of the baby rabbits belonging to the colony that lives at the bottom of my garden and regularly feeds on my grass. I sent my sons out to chase the cat off, but this only succeeded in driving him over the fence in next door's garden, with what was clearly a dead baby rabbit clenched in his jaws.
This scene made me think about life and death. In nature the line is incredibly fine. Most animals have predators and are in constant danger. As humans at the top of the food chain, we have none. OK, in some countries there are animals that could be deadly in the wrong circumstances, but no actual predators. And while this is a good thing, it does give us a somewhat false sense of security. 
I believe that this secure feeling can lead to a lot of inaction and inertia. Many people exhort us to "live for the day" in many different guises...but most of us don't do it in any real form. We mostly have jobs that pay us regularly at the end of the month. We have 20 year mortgages. We save for a "rainy day" (although given the weather in the UK the last 3 months, all our savings should by rights be spent...)
In business, there can more easily be no tomorrow. The loss of a major customer, a takeover, redundancy can all happen with very little, if any, notice. It is therefore in business that "living for today" has some important consequences. The most important of these is to grab any business opportunity that comes along.
I recently was asked to pitch for a consulting job. It was a good brief, exactly in line with my experience and skills. And I had no other projects or assignments in the pipeline. There was no reason not to take it. Yet still I had to ensure that I grabbed the opportunity, pitched in the most professional way possible, and did everything in my power to get the engagement. There were moments, even with everything going for me, when self-control and will power were required to make that happen. 
I'm sure some business people don't suffer from any such doubts. I however, think that to have the doubts is healthy - as long you deal with them, think deeply about why the doubts are there, and still grab the opportunity if it's right. Otherwise, the black cat could get you by the throat tomorrow...
Today I saw the rabbits, without their young companion of course, back on the lawn grazing. As a casual observer, nothing had changed. They didn't look any more skittish than usual. They didn't eat any less. Life went on as normal.
Sometimes I wonder if humans have something to learn from the animal kingdom about dealing with loss and bereavement. Whether that's the loss of a loved one or the loss of a business opportunity.
We all maybe need to get back out there and carry on eating the grass...with at least one beady eye keeping a watch for the greedy black cat.