Acting Like a Keystone Species

I'm reading a book about alligators with my youngest daughter, and I learn the definition of a keystone species.

A keystone species uses the environment in a way that shapes and benefits an entire community.  The alligator, for example, digs a gator hole for her own use that supports hundreds of other species.  Without the alligator, a whole ecosystem falls apart.

Only the alligator knows how to find the water deep within the land. Only the alligator has the ability to access the water and build the gator hole (she does it with her tail). 

I hear that whisper of truth that challenges me to the core. Does my behavior shape and benefit an entire community or do I harm and diminish my community by my actions?  Support or threaten? Build or crumble?

I think about my family and consider our role as a keystone species in loving, protecting, nurturing, serving, and growing a neighborhood. Do we act in isolation or do we act in ways that build an entire community?

I love reading books about animals; I learn so much! As I put the book down, I recall the moment of insight I had 2 years ago in September when I learned about how frogs breathe in the froglet phase.

Alligators and froglets! The world is full of lessons to learn.

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Do you have a good lesson you learned from a creature?