Better Than Me

There’s a panda at Dujiangyan Panda Base in China who takes better selfies than I do. Not because he’s trying—he’s just there being a panda—but his photos have this effortless quality that makes every selfie I’ve ever taken look desperate.

Most people doing selfies put real effort into it. Makeup, lighting, a hundred takes, the perfect angle. Someone’s bought a ring light, propped up their phone, deleted a hundred shots before getting one worth posting. Then this panda shows up and just looks better in a frame.

Dujiangyan is where they keep pandas and work on conservation. These animals were almost extinct, which is the serious part. But there’s something funny about a panda accidentally becoming internet famous just for being photogenic. He’s not trying to be a personality. He just is one, effortlessly.

I’m not sure if there’s a moral here. But I can’t really argue with the evidence.