Dinosaurs were very large reptiles which lived in the world in the past and finally disappeared altogether about seventy million years ago. No one knew anything about them until about two hundred years ago. The first dinosaur to be properly described was dis-covered on a morning in March 1822 in Sussex England. Dr Gideon Mantell a physician in England was an unusual man of wide.interests.
He was also one of that band of amateui in the western would who did so much to found the natural sciences during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. He was particulary interested in fossil, and for some years had spent his spare hours in the countryside of southern England searching for the remains of extinct animals. One day Dr Manta- noticed in a rock an object that looked so unusual, something that had the definite form and the shining surface of a fossil. He later found that it was a fossil tooth.
It was a tooth quite different from any fossil that he had seen before. and it aroused his curiosity. So during the following weeks he returned ortcil to the country near wheiv it had been found and discovered a number of fossil hones well. All of those fossils were unfamiliar to him then.
or another. And even those who seem capable of coping with minor let-downs sometimes fall apart when some major dis-appointment comes along. There are different ways of reacting to life's vicissi-tudes. Some try to cope by fleeing reality. They may occupy their minds with various forms of entertainment, devotion to some cause or pursuit of some goal. They may seek relief through drugs, alcohol and even suicide.
Others handle dis-appointment by rewarding themselves to make up for what they have had to endure. But the best way to soften life's blows is by coming to terms with reality. Every one of us has a mission in life. God put us on this earth for a purpose.
The disappointments, the trials, the problems we all encounter are not meant to be bar-riers. They are just hurdles. There purpose is to strengthen us. The realisation of this monumental truth can change a person's perspective and enable him or her to deal with ad-versity.
