The Father and the Son, the Fox and the Lion

A son once asked his father, "Would it better to be a fox or a lion?"
The father thought for a moment and then began to muse, "A fox may be clever, and may, with the proper time and preparation, be able to lay a snare that could catch even the mightiest of lions unawares, but a lion is quite the formidable foe, far larger and stronger than a fox, why, if he could just get him in his jaws, the lion could gobble the fox up in just one nibble, but that is a rather big 'if' mind you. A fox is swift and his den is burrowed so deep that not even a lion's long claws could reach him once he has made it inside..." The father trailed off as he noticed his son shifting uneasily in the bed. "Is something the matter?" He considerately inquired.
The son responded, "But what if they did not need to fight, which one would it be better just to live as."
The father laughed, "Well in truth lions and foxes do not face off with each other too often in the wild, and most foxes do not actually lay snares, but the reason that we metaphorically ponder over such things is to give us greater insight into how we ought to live our own lives. But 'to live' is never really just 'to live.' 'To live' is 'to survive' and to survive we must fight. All around us and at all times, every living being is fighting its own battle to survive in this world. Life is war."