Repetitive patterns in nature

Today on my way into the office I stopped at the Student Center to get some cash and I saw a beautiful little robin. It was pulling at a shiny piece of plastic string tied to a small shrub near the rear entrance of the building. The robin was pulling at the string, but the string was strong and was wrapped tightly around the branch, so the bird was having no luck flying off with its prize. I stood there and watched for a few minutes. It would pull for a while at the very end of the string with its beak, fail to break it off, and then try moving to a point closer to where the string was attached to the branch. When that didn't work, it would return to the very end of the string and keep trying. It never gave up. I went into the building, got some cash, bought a drink, and then came out and the robin was still working in vain on that piece of string.


As I sit here in my office trying to get my code to work I can't help but draw certain analogies between that robin and myself.