The Sphinx's Riddle

What goes on four legs in the morning, two legs at noon, and three legs in the evening? A man, who crawls as a baby in the "morning," or beginning of his life, walks on two legs at "noon," or during the middle of life, and finally walks on three legs at the end of his life in the "evening," with a cane. This is a metaphorical depiction of how we humans grow in the most basic sense, presented in the famous "Sphinx's Riddle." It's interesting to see that we do in fact go through these three stages, whereas not many other species do-possibly none. Recently, I've been going through some immediate family stresses (the typical rebel child's need to get what they want), and I've found that this riddle is ironic in that it shows that no matter what you wish things could be, man starts out as a child on all fours with most care coming from mom and dad, grows to stand on his own two feet and becomes self-sufficient (to a certain extent in this day and age) and matures a bit, figuring out the "way of man," and then eventually must rely on a crutch-not necessarily a physical object, but every single person will have a point in their life where they need to lean on someone, and that is the "evening" part of one's life. When it starts to get dark, they must have help to carry on. I rather enjoy the way life puts this specific chain of events together, even with man possibly unaware of its presence. The "morning" part of man's life revolves greatly around teenagers and the puberty-induced stresses that come with that, not to mention the I-know-everything-and-should-get-my-way-because-I-said-so attitude that is so prominent in these adolescents. No wonder later on they need a crutch-beating your stick over another person's head usually results in being swept off your feet, cold to the ground!