Michael Robert Dyet's Blog, page 25

Autumn’s Grand Farewell: Better Days Ahead

Hmmm, can one day of
unexpected splendour renew our hope in better times ahead?

Autumn 2020 has not been
particularly kind. It has turned a cold shoulder to us quite often with cool
temperatures and gray skies. The sun has been missing in action for many days
as if reflecting our collective mood as the second wave of COVID-19 arrived.

But Mother Nature, it
seems, had a meeting with her problem child.

My
child, it has been a troubling year for our two-legged friends. The pandemic has
cast a long shadow over their lives and weighed them down. You seem to be out
of sorts as well.

So
I am reaching into my emergency reserve to equip you for a special day. Friday,
October 23, one day only, the clouds will part, the breeze will tickle the
tumbling leaves and the sun will burst through so the temperature climbs to a
remembrance of summer.

This
will be your grand farewell for 2020. Summon all you have to show the very best
of yourself. Our two-legged friends will be ever so grateful.

In this grand farewell,
a few winged wonders took flight in one final showcase of their summer
splendour.

An Eastern Comma in its frost-edged autumn form.

A Mourning Cloak half-hidden in the leaf litter.

A Ruby Meadowhawk with mismatched eyes.

And of course, the Autumn Meadowhawk, at the top of this
post, holding hands with its shadow on the boardwalk.

2020 has been a year we
would rather not remember. But the grand farewell of autumn promises better
days ahead with the winged wonders providing the metaphor for hope reborn.

~  Now Available Online
from Amazon, Chapters Indigo or Barnes & Noble: Hunting Muskie, Rites of
Passage – Stories by Michael Robert Dyet

~ Michael Robert Dyet is also
the author of Until the Deep Water Stills – An Internet-enhanced Novel which
was a double winner in the Reader Views Literary Awards 2009. Visit Michael’s
website at www.mdyetmetaphor.com .

~ Subscribe to Michael’s Metaphors of Life Journal aka That Make Me Go
Hmmm at its’ internet home www.mdyetmetaphor.com/blog2 . Instructions for subscribing
are provided in the Subscribe to this Blog: How To instructions page in the
right sidebar. If
you’re reading this post on another social networking site, come back regularly
to my page for postings once a week.

Airbrushing the Facts: Time to Fight Back

Hmmm, how do we separate
fact from fake in a world where truth is frequently blurred?

I took the photograph at
the top of this post on a casual hike at a conservation area yesterday. But I
cannot take credit for the photo as you see it. There is a photo editing
program in Microsoft Office that enables even technologically challenged people
like me to enhance a picture.

I have cropped the
photograph to take out unnecessary detail and zoom in on the main subject. One
click on the Enhance button magically
corrected the exposure. Pulling slider bars to the far left maximized the colours
and optimized the clarity. The Vignette
feature allowed me to darken the edges of the photograph to draw attention to
the middle portion.

I could also, if I
chose, put filters on the photograph to give it a particular tone. I could even
convert the photograph to a five second video with Monarch butterflies
fluttering around, leafs tumbling down or a comet shooting through it.

Photo editing magic, known
in professional circles as airbrushing,
makes me appear to be a much better photographer. It is a bit of deception that
hides flaws.

So why am I belabouring
this point? I am building out a metaphor for a different kind of airbrushing
that is much more insidious.

We place a high value in
our society on the concept of truth. But it is far less an absolute than we
would like to believe. In fact, it can be extensively airbrushed for devious ends.

In the interests of full
disclosure, I will state that I work in the field of marketing. It is my job to
present our products and solutions in the best possible light. A couple of
decades ago I attended a marketing copywriting seminar in which the presenter
declared: I will never lie in my copy.
But I will sometimes decline to tell the whole truth.

So there is a marketing
version of the truth in certain areas which involves airbrushing the solution to
emphasize its strengths and downplay its shortcomings. Fair enough.

But there is another
level of airbrushing that goes several steps further. This practice involves
bending, twisting and contorting the truth to transform it into something new
that supports a particular point of view.

There are tools of the trade
in this practice: presenting figures out of context, dressing up or dressing
down the facts and spreading half-truths that alter perception. In the process,
the kernel of truth where it all started gets lost.

So what can we do to
combat this deception? The secret is not accepting everything we are told at
face value. Dig a little deeper. Test the veracity of the report by stripping
back a few layers of window dressing. And consider whether the source is
impartial or has a particular point of view to put forward that benefits them.

Airbrushing of the facts
is an all too common practice these days. Sometimes we have to go hunting for
the truth. Half-truths rarely hold up under scrutiny. The perpetrators count on
us not scratching the surface to see what lies below.

~  Now Available Online
from Amazon, Chapters Indigo or Barnes & Noble: Hunting Muskie, Rites of
Passage – Stories by Michael Robert Dyet

~ Michael Robert Dyet is also
the author of Until the Deep Water Stills – An Internet-enhanced Novel which was
a double winner in the Reader Views Literary Awards 2009. Visit Michael’s
website at www.mdyetmetaphor.com .

~ Subscribe to Michael’s Metaphors of Life Journal aka Things That Make
Me Go Hmmm at its’ internet home www.mdyetmetaphor.com/blog2 . Instructions for subscribing
are provided in the Subscribe to this Blog: How To instructions page in the
right sidebar. If
you’re reading this post on another social networking site, come back regularly
to my page for postings once a week.

Windy Day Metaphors and Unpleasant Truths

Hmmm, who can you trust
to open a revealing window on life’s unpleasant truths?

Wednesday was a very blustery
day around here. Fierce wind gusts rattled the windows and pistol-whipped the
trees. It was a “put your head down and hang on to your hat” kind of day.

It also happened to be
recycling and organics pick-up day in my townhouse complex. Long before the
collection crews arrived, many bins were overturned by the wind scattering the
contents. As I walked around the complex on Thursday, it looked like the
aftermath of a battle – the battle of the recyclables, so to speak.

As I surveyed the debris
on the grass and sidewalks, my always revved up imagination made one of its
sideways leaps. It occurred to me that what I was observing could be a metaphor
for the COVID-19 whirlwind (and the associated lockdown) that hit us this year.
The debris left in its wake has been bewildering to say the least – and now it
is doubling back for another shot at us.

If you follow this blog
regularly, you know I am a fiction author. Those of us who practice the fiction
craft often weave stories around landmark real-life events such as the
pandemic. We use the lens of fiction to probe and uncover the unpleasant truths
that often lie hidden.

It is a foregone
conclusion that many of us will feel compelled to do so for the year of
COVID-19. So stay tuned for the COVID-19 fiction pandemic.

In the meantime, you should know that one of my fellow authors Shane Joseph has exercised the writer’s revealing eye in his latest novel Circles in the Spiral. He tackled the insidious phenomenon of fake news and the nefarious ways it can and has been used. If you are disturbed, as I am, by that lurking evil, you should read buy and read his latest work.

Yes, I am openly promoting
his novel because he has important things to say. I’ll be so bold as to give
you a link to the Blue Denim Press
website page for the book. Shane runs
Blue Denim Press because he believes in helping authors, whose works would
not otherwise see the light of day, get into print.

Yes, I am one of those authors. Blue Denim Press published my short story collection Hunting Muskie: Rites of Passage. Yes, a shameless plug, but indulge me this one time.

I also am inclined to burrow beneath the surface reality in my stories to uncover the lessons that can be learned from those life events that we would rather not endure but unfortunately must. I talk about that aspect of my stories in the “Between the Lines” video that Shane facilitated for his stable of authors.

And yes, I have included
a link to that video so you can view it if you are so inclined.

Now I need to tie off
the loose ends of this self-indulgent post. So here come the metaphors.

Circles
in the spiral is a
metaphor for the circular, what goes around comes around, nature of life. Hunting Muskie is a metaphor for the
hunt to find and subdue the unseen foe that is burdening our life. Are you
sufficiently intrigued?

~  Now Available Online
from Amazon, Chapters Indigo or Barnes & Noble: Hunting Muskie, Rites of
Passage – Stories by Michael Robert Dyet

~ Michael Robert Dyet is also
the author of Until the Deep Water Stills – An Internet-enhanced Novel which
was a double winner in the Reader Views Literary Awards 2009. Visit Michael’s
website at www.mdyetmetaphor.com .

~ Subscribe to Michael’s Metaphors of Life Journal aka Things That Make
Me Go Hmmm at its’ internet home www.mdyetmetaphor.com/blog2 . Instructions for subscribing
are provided in the Subscribe to this Blog: How To instructions page in the
right sidebar. If
you’re reading this post on another social networking site, come back regularly
to my page for postings once a week.

Michael’s Three Laws of Computers

Hmmm,
can Asimov’s Laws be applied to computers?

The IT department
where I work sent out a notification on Friday that a major upgrade would be
carried out over the weekend. I grimaced at the idea. The last time they did a
major upgrade my laptop refused to connect to the network. No amount cajoling,
cursing or threats of physical violence (yes, there were many) made any
difference.

These
notifications always come with instructions to back up all files on the shared
drive. But there is nowhere near enough space allocated per person for all my
files. Cramming all my files into the allocated space is akin to trying to
stuff an elephant into a sweat sock.

Whenever
I face this situation, I think of science fiction author Isaac Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics that were devised
to keep robots under control.

First Law of Robotics: A robot may not injure a human being or, through
inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

Second
Law of Robotics: A robot
must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would
conflict with the First Law.

Third Law
of Robotics: A robot
must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict
with the First or Second Law.

I
hereby declare my own parallel Three Laws
of Computers to keep these devices in check.

Michael’s
First Law of Computers: A
computer may not handcuff a human being or, through technical glitches, cause a
human being to become annoyed.

My computer must do exactly what
it is supposed to do without ever running aground. I hear you saying that is
unreasonable. Here’s the thing: I don’t
care. The damn thing is supposed to make my life easier. When it doesn’t, I
reserve the right to curse it out seven ways to Sunday.

Michael’s
Second Law of Computers: A computer
must flawlessly execute every command given to it by a human being, except
where such commands conflict with the First Law.

My computer must do whatever I
tell it to do. Those pop-up error messages are forbidden. I hear you saying
that is unreasonable. Here’s the thing: I
don’t care. The damn thing is supposed to make my life easier. When it
doesn’t, I reserve the right to beat it with a stick.

Michael’s
Third Law of Computers: A computer
must protect its own viability as long as such protection does not conflict with
the First or Second Law.

My computer must protect itself
from ever crashing for any reason whatsoever. I hear you saying that is
unreasonable. Here’s the thing: I don’t
care. The damn thing is supposed to make my life easier. When it doesn’t, I
reserve the right to toss it down a flight of stairs.

A computer crash is a metaphor for the device breaking down beyond
repair. I hereby declare that metaphor illegal. I hear you saying that is
unreasonable….

~ Now
Available Online from Amazon, Chapters Indigo or Barnes & Noble: Hunting
Muskie, Rites of Passage – Stories by Michael Robert Dyet

~ Michael Robert Dyet is also
the author of Until the Deep Water Stills – An Internet-enhanced Novel which
was a double winner in the Reader Views Literary Awards 2009. Visit Michael’s
website at www.mdyetmetaphor.com .

~ Subscribe to Michael’s Metaphors of Life Journal aka That Make Me Go
Hmmm at its’ internet home www.mdyetmetaphor.com/blog2 . Instructions for subscribing
are provided in the Subscribe to this Blog: How To instructions page in the
right sidebar. If
you’re reading this post on another social networking site, come back regularly
to my page for postings once a week

Reality TV 2030: Herpes, Sasquatch and the Bermuda Triangle

Hmmm, where will we hide
when reality TV stages its hostile takeover?

I have a recurring
nightmare in which I wake up a decade from now to the following entertainment
news: A landmark was reached in television
history today when the last program with paid actors went off the air.
Programming across all networks is now 100% Reality TV.

I foresee the major
networks announcing these spinoffs of established Reality TV franchises.

The
Expired Singer

In an effort to boost
flagging ratings, producers of The Masked
Singer are debuting a spinoff called The
Expired Singer. Terminally ill patients will be recorded on their deathbed
singing their favourite song. Judges will listen to the recordings emanating from
mouldy corpses on the stage and try to identify which corpse is the real deal.

Naked
and Afraid in the Land of Sasquatch

The 21st
season of the voyeuristic series, in which contestants engage in a 21 day,
naked wilderness odyssey, will feature a new twist. Contestants chosen
specifically for their low IQ will be told a $50,000 bonus prize is available
if they secure a photograph of Sasquatch. A $75,000 bonus prize will be awarded
if they convince Sasquatch to pose for a selfie.

Real
Storage Wars Housewives

The Storage Wars franchise merges with the Real Housewives franchise for this crossover series. Trophy wives,
who have spent more on plastic surgery than the average person earns in a
decade, will bid for storage lockers in Silicon Valley in the hopes of scoring
the contents of a designer shoe store. Celebrity auctioneers will include Julie
Chen and Donald Trump.

Big
Brother B.T.

In its record 33rd
season, Big Brother will return with
a new wrinkle. Contestants will assemble in a specially constructed house on a
raised platform above the ocean in the Bermuda Triangle. Evicted houseguests
will be tossed off the platform never to be seen again… until they
spontaneously reappear in the house as Walking
Dead zombies.

America’s
Got Herpes

The long running talent
show competition returns for the 2030 season featuring contestants infected
with herpes. Judges Simon Cowell, Howie Mandel, Heidi Klum and Sofia Vergara
will be protected behind a wall of Plexiglas while contestants perform in head
to toe biohazard suits to ensure the safety of all concerned.

Shakespeare said that
“all the world’s a stage” and men and women merely actors. By 2030, that famous
metaphor will take on a new meaning that will leave its author doing backflips
in his grave.

~ Now
Available Online from Amazon, Chapters Indigo or Barnes & Noble: Hunting
Muskie, Rites of Passage – Stories by Michael Robert Dyet

~ Michael Robert Dyet is also
the author of Until the Deep Water Stills – An Internet-enhanced Novel which
was a double winner in the Reader Views Literary Awards 2009. Visit Michael’s
website at www.mdyetmetaphor.com or the novel online companion at www.mdyetmetaphor.com/blog .

~ Subscribe to Michael’s Metaphors of Life Journal aka That Make Me Go
Hmmm at its’ internet home www.mdyetmetaphor.com/blog2 . Instructions for
subscribing are provided in the Subscribe to this Blog: How To instructions
page in the right sidebar. If
you’re reading this post on another social networking site, come back regularly
to my page for postings once a week.

COVID-19 Paradigm Shift: An Oxymoron Comes to Life

Hmmm, can I afford to be a skeptic?

My brain hurts. But no
need to worry. I am not having a brain aneurysm. Not in the literal sense at
least, although the case could be made that a virtual aneurysm is occurring.

My brain hurts because
it is working overtime trying to reprogram itself to keep pace with the new
logic and language of digital technology. If you will pardon the pun, it does
not compute and causes my brain to spin its wheels.

Most recently I have
been grappling with the new concept of virtual trade shows and virtual exhibits.
They are product of COVID-19 protocols which puts limits on gatherings of
people. Conference and trade show organizers are frantically reconfiguring
their events into virtual formats to survive.

My 62 year old, Baby
Boomer brain is having difficulty wrapping itself around the concept. The raison
d’etre of trade shows has always been face-to-face contact. Now I have to come
to terms with the idea of virtual face-to-face contact which is the very
definition of an oxymoron.

Will they work? I am
pessimistic, but for the sake of my job I have to consider the possibility
which means accepting the twist in the language associated with it. My brain is
disgruntled and holding out against the transition.

It occurs to me that
this has happened before in the history of mankind. Let’s start a few hundred
years ago with the Industrial Revolution. Imagine a skeptic’s first encounter
with a manufacturing machine.

“It runs by itself? How
does you start it?”

“You just push this
button.”

“Button? This thing on my
shirt is a button.”

“This is a new kind of
button that you push.”

“It’s just silly. You’re
wasting your time. It will never catch on.”

Jump forward a couple of
hundred years when the Information Age arrives. Imagine a skeptic’s first
encounter with a computer.

“It’s a thinking machine?
How does it work?”

“You just click this
button.”

“You push a button. Not click.”

“This is a new kind of
button that you click.”

“It’s just silly. You’re
wasting your time. It will never catch on.”

Those leaps forward, and
the changes forced on us by COVID-19 protocols, are what is known as a paradigm shift – a fundamental shift in
approach or underlying assumptions. My brain is not taking kindly to the shift.
In fact, it is staging a revolt. Drawing a line in the metaphorical sand, while
being dragged kicking and screaming in the Trade Show 2.0 world.

A virtual exhibit? It’s
just silly. You’re wasting my time. It will never catch on…

~ Now
Available Online from Amazon, Chapters Indigo or Barnes & Noble: Hunting
Muskie, Rites of Passage – Stories by Michael Robert Dyet

~ Michael Robert Dyet is also
the author of Until the Deep Water Stills – An Internet-enhanced Novel which
was a double winner in the Reader Views Literary Awards 2009. Visit Michael’s
website at www.mdyetmetaphor.com .

~ Subscribe to Michael’s Metaphors of Life Journal aka That Make Me Go
Hmmm at its’ internet home www.mdyetmetaphor.com/blog2 . Instructions for subscribing
are provided in the Subscribe to this Blog: How To instructions page in the
right sidebar. If
you’re reading this post on another social networking site, come back regularly
to my page for postings once a week

Little Buckeye on a Mission in this Pandemic Summer

Hmmm, did the Buckeye arrive this far north by chance
or by hallowed design?

Butterfly watching is a
summer preoccupation. By the time September rolls around, the number of species
available to be seen drops to single digits. Fortunately, there are a few
species that spent most of the season south of the border but wander north
during late summer.

Common
Buckeyes are one of
these late season explorers. They do not always make it to Southern Ontario,
but this year some have. Buckeyes are
always a pleasure to spot with their exotic markings – gaudy eyespots on a
field of warm brown with dashes of white and orange.

The specimen at the top
of this post was enjoying the flower gardens at Humber Arboretum in Etobicoke last Sunday under sunny skies. It may
have regretted its decision to venture this far north given the unseasonably
cool weather and gray skies that rolled in for the week.

But then again, perhaps
it was not there solely of its own accord.

Being the sort of person
who is prone to flights of fancy and to digging below the surface for hidden
meaning, I cannot help but wonder if Mother Nature had a hand in the visit. Perhaps
she whispered to this lovely little creature and sent it forth.

Little
Buckeye, my pride and joy, I’m sending you north on a mission. Human beings are
rather lost this year because of this phenomenon they call a pandemic. Many are
sticking close to home, fearful and uncertain, and are missing out on so much
of what I have to offer.

So,
my child, wing your way north over the Great Lakes and past the sprawling metropolis
of Toronto. I promise I will watch over and protect you on this rather perilous
journey. No harm will come to you as you obey my calling.

The
destination of your journey is a beautiful plot of flower gardens. You will
know it when you see it and will be quite at home there for a week or two.
Human beings are congregating in this spot more than usual this year as their
souls yearn for me.

Some
of those humans will be wearing face masks. This will seem strange to you as it
does to me. But do not let it deter you. Your appearance there will bring a
smile to their faces, calm their fear stricken hearts and perhaps inspire them to
step out from behind the mask.

Human
beings are not coming to us this year, so we must come to them where we find
them. Little Buckeye, my child, this is a sacred mission and I have chosen you
for it.

You
will be a winged metaphor, infused with my heart, to remind humans that living
in fear is futile, that time does not pause while they quiver in doubt and that
lost days can never be reclaimed.

So
go forth, my child, and let your beauty open their hearts again. My blessings
go with you.

~ Now
Available Online from Amazon, Chapters Indigo or Barnes & Noble: Hunting
Muskie, Rites of Passage – Stories by Michael Robert Dyet

~ Michael Robert Dyet is also
the author of Until the Deep Water Stills – An Internet-enhanced Novel which
was a double winner in the Reader Views Literary Awards 2009. Visit Michael’s
website at www.mdyetmetaphor.com or the novel online companion at www.mdyetmetaphor.com/blog .

~ Subscribe to Michael’s Metaphors of Life Journal aka That Make Me Go
Hmmm at its’ internet home www.mdyetmetaphor.com/blog2 . Instructions for subscribing
are provided in the Subscribe to this Blog: How To instructions page in the
right sidebar. If
you’re reading this post on another social networking site, come back regularly
to my page for postings once a week

Your Blank Canvas: Choose Your Own Colours

Flowers are red, young man

Green leaves are green

There’s no need to see flowers any other way

Than the way they always have been seen

Hmmm, do you bristle
when you heard the words “Repeat after Me”?

My mind has a tendency
to go off on its own now and then on tangents that seem unrelated to what I am
doing. I have learned that there is always a good reason for these mental
diversions. If I give my mind permission to wander, the reason eventually
reveals itself.

This morning the Harry
Chapin song “Flowers are Red” popped into my mind. For younger generations who
may not have heard of him, Chapin was one of the most successful
singer/songwriters in the 1970’s known for his story songs.

“Flowers are Red” tells
the story of a young boy’s first day at school. He grabs a crayon and starts drawing.
The teacher chastises him for drawing without permission and, after determining
that he was drawing multi-coloured flowers, delivers the lines at the top of
this post. The young below replies:

There
are so many colours in the rainbow

So
many colours in the morning sun

So
many colours in the flowers and I see every one

The teacher calls him sassy, instructs him that There’s way that things should be done
and puts him in a corner with the admonition:

It’s
for your own good

And
you won’t come out ‘til you get it right

And
all responding like you should

The young boy feels
frightened and conforms to the teacher’s demand. Some years later, the boy goes
to another school with a more progressive teacher who encourages him to express
himself in his drawing. But he replies with the words that have been drilled
into him.

Flowers
are red young man

Green
leaves are green

There’s
no need to see flowers any other way

Than
the way they always have been seen

“Flowers are Red” warns
us what can happen if we supress a child’s spirit. It is also an anthem for
those of us who are driven to go their own way even if it is not what is
expected of us. And also, it now occurs to me, a metaphor to encourage us in
these times when our lives are squeezed into narrow confines that our spirit
rebels against.

Our life is a blank
canvas that we paint as we find our way. But it is not a paint-by-the numbers
exercise. There are parameters we need to operate within. But our flowers can
and should be any colour we choose – and we should be able to draw them
whenever we feel the urge.

~ Now
Available Online from Amazon, Chapters Indigo or Barnes & Noble: Hunting
Muskie, Rites of Passage – Stories by Michael Robert Dyet

~ Michael Robert Dyet is also
the author of Until the Deep Water Stills – An Internet-enhanced Novel which
was a double winner in the Reader Views Literary Awards 2009. Visit Michael’s
website at www.mdyetmetaphor.com or the novel online companion at www.mdyetmetaphor.com/blog .

~ Subscribe to Michael’s Metaphors of Life Journal aka That Make Me Go
Hmmm at its’ internet home www.mdyetmetaphor.com/blog2 . Instructions for
subscribing are provided in the Subscribe to this Blog: How To instructions
page in the right sidebar. If
you’re reading this post on another social networking site, come back regularly
to my page for postings once a week

Tomorrow is Canceled: Maybe Monday as Well

Hmmm, did I just get
lapped by change?

It is the mantra of the
times we live in: Adapt, Adapt and Adapt
again. Change comes at us with a vengeance and does not allow for the “I
would rather not” option. COVID-19, or more specifically the response to it,
has doubled down on that requirement.

You do not have to look
far to see examples of that trend. Each has the
good and the bad associated with
it. Let’s explore a few.

Trend: Working at Home

The
Good: No commute
through rush hour traffic. Two weeks on a tank of gas. An extra hour of sleep
in the morning. A whole new meaning to business
casual attire from the neck down.

The
Bad: E-mails. An
avalanche of @&%!@ e-mails arriving at the rate of one every 2 to 5
minutes. Using my full repertoire of four letter words to express my frustration.
If I had a quarter for every four letter word I utter, I could retire tomorrow.

Trend: Online Shopping

The
Good: No waiting in
line. No @&%!@ face mask. No roaming the aisles to find where the thing you
need has been moved to since the last time you shopped. Thank God for Amazon!
They have everything. Literally
everything. I defy you: Name something they do not have.

The
Bad: The growing pile
of cardboard boxes in my garage that I have not had time to break down and
recycle. There is barely room for my car in there now.

Trend: Online meetings. I even had a
virtual appointment with my Naturopath today. At least I think it was him. It
could have been has avatar. How would I know?

The
Good: See above.

The
Bad: More time spent
staring at my laptop screen. I am practically attached at the hip to the damn
thing now. And don’t get my started on the @&%!@ internet connection that
drops for no reason. I have a whole separate category of four letter words for
that situation.

Trend: 24 Hour News. The media mega-machine
never sleeps.

The
Good: Nothing comes
to mind.

The
Bad: Where do I
begin? Only the details that are the most alarming are reported. The angle calculated
to raise our blood pressure and keep us glued to the TV. The truth? Good luck.
We surrendered that value some time ago. We just never found the time to write
its epitaph.

Trend: Political correctness gone wild.

The
Good: Empowerment of
the individual. Anyone can bring the world to halt because they are offended.
Wait, I’m confused. Is that in the good
or the bad category?

The
Bad: Everyone now has
a personalized Stop the World button
at their disposal.

Where am I going with
all of this? Hell, I don’t know! It seemed like a good idea a half hour ago. But
I got off track and couldn’t stop myself. Now I’m up to my knees and sinking
fast.

That’s a metaphor, by
the way. If you don’t get it, don’t worry. It will already be irrelevant by the
time you read this post.

Change – adapt. Change –
adapt again. And again. Too late. You’re too slow. Changed passed you by. You’re
irrelevant now. So am I.

I’m offended. I’m
calling a halt to it all right now. Tomorrow is cancelled. Maybe Monday as
well. Everyone hates Mondays anyway.

~ Now
Available Online from Amazon, Chapters Indigo or Barnes & Noble: Hunting
Muskie, Rites of Passage – Stories by Michael Robert Dyet

~ Michael Robert Dyet is also
the author of Until the Deep Water Stills – An Internet-enhanced Novel which
was a double winner in the Reader Views Literary Awards 2009. Visit Michael’s
website at www.mdyetmetaphor.com or the novel online companion at www.mdyetmetaphor.com/blog .

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Wandering Glider: The Inexplicable Whims of Fate

Hmmm, how
far has it wandered and what curiosities has it seen?

I was
on a Saturday hike. Not really in the right frame of mind for butterfly and
dragonfly hunting. Rather tired after a hectic week of work and pushing myself
to get out for a few hours since the weather was nice. I stayed close to home
at a conservation area only twenty minutes away.

I was
circling back to the parking lot after realizing I did not have the energy for
the full route I usually follow. I decided to take a trail I was not familiar
with for a bit of variety, getting half-lost in the process, and was just
trying to get back to the main road.

As
sometimes happens in life, I found myself in the right place at the right time
for the wrong reasons. A large dragonfly glided across the path ahead of me,
turned and retraced its path. Gliding.
That was the telltale sign.

I managed
to track its path to a small tree where it perched and got my binoculars
focused on it. My fatigued brain clicked into gear. Wandering Glider. An unexpected reward for the effort on a day when
I was uninspired.

There
are only two Gliders that occur in
this area and both are considered uncommon. In 15+ years of dragonfly sleuthing,
this was only the third one I had seen. I managed to slog through waist high
grass and over a couple of rotting logs to get close enough to snap the photo
at the head of this post.

Gliders are one of a few species of dragonflies
that are migratory. They are known to fly out over the ocean during their
migratory flights. In addition, they are the only dragonfly known to exist on
all continents. Wanderers, indeed.

I
wonder now how far this particular specimen has wandered in its short lifespan.
What exotic southern climes has it visited? Has it paused to admire pods of
whales during its migration? Perhaps looked down in puzzlement at the
battlefields of the wars of mankind. How much if any of those memories has it
retained?

I wish
I could somehow have a conversation with this world traveler. Be regaled by the
sights and sounds, wonders and oddities, inspirations and disappointments it
has experienced. Doubtless it has found its way to places I will never see and happened
upon curiosities I will never encounter.

Alas,
it was only the briefest of encounters. I returned to my comparatively mundane
life and it continued on its instinctual wanderings. But I will remember it as
a moment of convergence – two diverse creatures crossing paths for a few
moments in time.

A
metaphor for the inexplicable whims of fate and the fair winds on which it
glides.

~ Now
Available Online from Amazon, Chapters Indigo or Barnes & Noble: Hunting
Muskie, Rites of Passage – Stories by Michael Robert Dyet

~ Michael Robert Dyet is also
the author of Until the Deep Water Stills – An Internet-enhanced Novel which
was a double winner in the Reader Views Literary Awards 2009. Visit Michael’s
website at www.mdyetmetaphor.com or the novel online companion at www.mdyetmetaphor.com/blog .

~ Subscribe to Michael’s Metaphors of Life Journal aka That Make Me Go
Hmmm at its’ internet home www.mdyetmetaphor.com/blog2 . Instructions for
subscribing are provided in the Subscribe to this Blog: How To instructions
page in the right sidebar. If
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