Michael Robert Dyet's Blog, page 26

Are You Waiting for “the New Normal”?

Hmmm, what if we opted out of waiting and just put one foot in front of the other?

For many years earlier
in my life, around this time in August, my mind would respond to preprogramming
and start preparing for a new cycle. Nineteen years framed by the school year –
grade school, secondary school, college and university – imprinted on my
psyche. It was a comforting rhythm aided by the fact that I am an academic at
heart.

The preprogramming faded
as the years passed, but never quite let go. September remained at some level
as the official turning of the calendar – New Year’s Day and all the hoopla associated
with it notwithstanding. September 1st was the reboot date, to put
it in modern terms.

Until
now. 2020 is
different. That, of course, is an understatement given how the world has been
turned upside down since COVID-19 arrived. In a way, it is like time has been
standing still. So much of our lives put on hold that the passage of time feels
interrupted.

It is entirely an
illusion – a trick of the mind. Time is marching on. The seasons are unfolding
as they always do. Birds are beginning to feel that ancient and instinctive
imperative to fatten up and began the long trek south to wintering grounds. We
age day by day even as we do our utmost to stave off becoming a senior citizen.

So what is it really
that has stopped?

Someone pushed the pause
button on the universal remote that regulates life across the globe. We are
collectively holding our breath, literally and figuratively, in an artificially
induced waiting state. Waiting for the danger to pass so we can resume living,
or stop worrying or start being optimistic again.

The self-proclaimed experts
tell us things are never going to be the same. That we have to prepare for the new normal. Except that no one really
knows what the new normal will look
like.

Oh, lots of experts believe they do know and are making a
name for themselves mapping out what will happen and how we should prepare for
it. But their prognostications are educated guesses at best and often coloured
by their own preferences and biases.

And so we wait, because
it seems that is all we can do. Follow the rules, stay the course and try to be
patient. Taking baby steps forward as we move into another phase of reopening.
Hoping that the predicted second wave does not come and slam the door again.

But what are we really
waiting for? For permission, it would seem, once again literally and
figuratively. But many are uncertain and uncomfortable about what form that
permission will take in the new normal.
We sense that it could have new parameters around it that fence us in, and
restrict our autonomy, which none of us want.

What are we waiting for?
We are waiting for the other shoe to drop. But every moment we wait, holding our
breath in fear, is a lost moment we cannot get back. We have to play by the
rules, albeit reluctantly, but that does not mean we cannot go on living.

So breathe, let go out fear,
take that first step, and keep putting one foot in front of the other.

~ 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

Cultivating Our Own Garden Where Truth Blooms

Hmmm, should we think
more and listen less in this perplexing time of information overload?

One of the advantages of
blogging is the window it affords me to look back and reflect. In the spirit of
hindsight, and looking for context to make sense of this unsettling year, I
looked back three years to my mid-summer posts.

Three years ago, I was
in the hospital suffering the misery of a twisted
colon and preparing for surgery. Three and a half weeks later, recuperating
at home, I wrote about Knockdown
Fastballs – The Myth of Invincibility Deconstructed:

We
are gifted in our youth with the belief that we are invincible – possessed of a
preternatural ability to dodge the numerous knockdown fastballs that life
throws at us as an inevitable consequence of living. This belief is, of course,
an illusion. The natural laws of life eventually catch up with us and claim
their pound of flesh.

So,
with due humility, I confess: I am not invincible or immune. Nor am I a
superhero with special powers of overnight recovery. Where the world of
metaphor meets the real feet-on-the-ground world, knockdown fastballs have my
number and I cannot always evade them. It is a sobering reality.

On
the plus side, I learned many valuable lessons from this unpleasant experience.
I have emerged on the other side a bit wiser and with a more realistic outlook
on life.

Two years ago, I wrote
about The 200 Million Year Wisdom of the
Turtle:

Turtles are
traditionally seen as the embodiment of the notion that slow and steady wins
the race. But they also remind us of the wisdom of taking life as it comes.
They do not react to and resist the forces around them, but rather simply
accept what is and move on with their life with fortitude and tolerance.

A Painted
Turtle regarding me with is prehistoric countenance and nonjudgmental attitude
– a random act of metaphor to remind me that wisdom is born of patience and
that contentment comes from taking life one day at a time

One year back, I reflected
on The Life Fully Lived: Colouring
Outside the Lines:

As
we mature and grow into adulthood, we learn that there are rules to the game of
life and often penalties for noncompliance. We develop an inner voice of reason
that warns us when we are treading close to the line and steers us back onto
the acceptable path.

But
part of maturing is recognizing that a life fully lived occasionally means
breaking the rules. Some of life’s special moments happen when we step outside
the lines.

Life
has rules for valid reasons. Most often the best course of action is to follow
them. But now and then, life calls us to break the rules, leave the beaten path
and go where we are not supposed to go. It is often when, exercising our best
judgment, we colour outside the lines that we experience those memorable
moments that make life truly worth living.

The common theme in these
posts is wisdom – how it is sometimes painfully earned, often arises from
unexpected sources and occasionally calls upon us to break the rules. I came
across an African proverb which elegantly summarizes these truths:

Knowledge
is like a garden, if it cannot be cultivated, it cannot be harvested.

In a year when life has
been turned upside down and it is hard to separate fact from fiction, we should
chose to cultivate our own garden – nurturing the flowers and yanking out the
weeds.

~  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.

COVID-19: Should There Really Be an App for That?

Hmmm, this post is going
to make me some enemies, but so be it.

I read this week that
the Canadian smartphone app, meant to warn users if they have been in close
contact with someone who tests positive for COVID-19, is now in beta testing by
the federal Canadian Digital Service agency.

The testing is designed
to look for bugs and other problems. “We’re testing the app, not you”, the
agency’s notice reportedly advises. The distinction is lost on me.

I am more than a little
uncomfortable with this development. It is the tip of a very large ethical
iceberg that its developers would rather not talk about. There are undoubtedly
those who will say it is a great use of technology. I am inclined to substitute
abuse for use.

As I understand it, the “COVID
Alert” app will track phones’ locations relative to each other using digital
identifications unique to each phone. Users would receive an alert on their
phone if they have recently been near a person who volunteers that they have
tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

Note: The agency says
the app will send false alerts just to make sure the system work. Does anyone
see the flaw in that plan?

The fact that the
success of the app depends on people volunteering to be flagged as having
tested positive may well be its undoing. I find it hard to imagine that many
people will do so.

Setting aside that
factor for the moment, the bigger issue here is the intersection and collision
of individual civil rights with the proverbial greater good. I fear we are about to open a door that can never
again be closed.

The precedent we are
setting here is a dangerous one. A legal exception is being made to our fundamental
right to privacy. You may argue that extraordinary circumstances apply that
make it worthwhile. But that is just the old the end justifies the means rationale.

You may also argue that
this is all done on a strictly voluntary basis so we should not be worried.
However, once that door is edged open even an inch, there will be a crowd of
tech companies lining up behind it to pry it further open every day.

Once you bend a civil
right, you can never straighten it out again. But it does become much easier –
for the private or the public sector – to justify bending it a bit further the
next time a perceived threat comes along. Eventually the civil right becomes a
phantom that exists in principle but not in practice.

I have been mixing my metaphors in this post. But here is the important one. The COVID-19 alert app is potentially the Pandora’s Box of our times from a civil rights perspective. If you know the myth, you know that once the contents of the box are released, the results are irreversible.

~ 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

Random Act of Metaphor: A Skiming Bluet at Home on Pond Lily

Hmmm, how much do we
overlook because we do not pause to ask the uncomfortable questions?

I took this photograph
yesterday on my weekend outing in search of the winged wonders that continue to
entrance me. It struck me as symbolic in a number of ways.

The tiny Bluet perched on the much larger Lily reminds me how small each of us
really are in the grand scheme of things. We often act like we are the center
of our own universe. But that it is purely hubris.

As a study the photo,
the damselfly seems to be contemplating the waves of white, and the forest of
yellow stamens at the center of the Lily,
for no other reason than the beauty of it and the safe harbour it offers. A
moment of reverence we would all be well advised to mimic.

Then there is the
observation that the one inch long Bluet is
a representative of the miniscule world of creatures we easily overlook as we
scurry about the hectic business of living. We need to slow down, take a breath
and catch all that we have been missing.

And on the same line of
thinking, we are called to look more closely at life, especially in these
turbulent times, to perceive and unravel the often unseen forces that are at
play for purposes that may not be in the best interests of us all.

A Skimming Bluet making itself at home on a Pond Lily – a random act of metaphor to remind me that there is so
much more to life than meets the eye when we skim over the surface of it
without pausing to wonder… Why?

~  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.

Tech Turmoil, Hammer Therapy and Laptop Frisbee

Hmmm, is there a cure
for tech turmoil syndrome?

The association I work
for recently carried out a major update to our systems. That pretty much
guarantees that tech turmoil will ensue. On Thursday my connection to the
network dropped and refused to be resurrected. Bad news when you are working
from home.

It became one of those forget about getting anything done because
you’ll be on the line with tech support for hours kind of day. It involved
the tech guy uploading files to a cloud site, me downloading the files to my
personal laptop, saving them on a USB drive and being talked through the
arduous process of installing and running them on my work laptop.

In times of like these,
my coping mechanism is to fantasize about how I would really like to interact
with tech support.

Michael: Before you ask, I did the idiot
reboot three times. It didn’t help one damn bit.

Tech
Guy: Okay, let me
take a look. I can access your laptop remotely.

Michael: Would it help if I smack it with a
hammer?

Tech
Guy: No, don’t do
that. It won’t help.

Michael: But it would help me. It would make
me feel so much better.

Tech
Guy: Ha, ha.
Seriously, don’t do that. Put the hammer
down.

Michael: What if I Frisbee it out the window?

Tech
Guy: Definitely not.
Don’t do that.

Michael: That was really more of a rhetorical
question. Hold on a minute, I need to go outside and pick it up… Okay, I’m
back.”

Tech
Guy: You’re kidding,
right? You didn’t really do that.

Michael: Don’t worry. It still seems to be in
one piece, more or less.

Tech
Guy: More or less?

Michael: Should it be making a loud buzzing
noise like a rabid cicada?

Tech
Guy: Um, no.

Michael: Hold on. Let me Frisbee it out the
window again… Wow, it bounced real high this time! Hold on a minute… Okay, I’m
back. Good news. The buzzing stopped.

Tech
Guy: This is not the
way it’s supposed to go.

Michael: Okay, no more Frisbee. I’ll punt it
this time…Oh neat! Sparks flew out of it. A real fireworks display. Hold on a
minute… Okay, I’m back. I got most of it.

Tech
Guy: Most of it?

Michael: Yeah, most of the pieces. A dog ran
off with the rest. I think I need a new unit.

Tech
Guy: … I’m closing
your support ticket now.

Michael: Roger that. When will my new laptop
arrive?

Laptop Frisbee, it’s
more than just a metaphor. It works!

~ 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

The Fable of the Marsh Gnome and the Fearless Dragonfly

Hmmm, can a fable help
you fly in the face of fear?

Allow me to introduce
myself. I am Maurice the Marsh Gnome. I know that may seem strange to you. You
know about Garden Gnomes, but have probably never heard of a Marsh Gnome.

Until very recently, I myself
was a Garden Gnome in a very nice yard in a small town not far from here. I
greeted people who came to visit, put a smile on their face and spent my
leisure time communing with the flowers and shrubs. It was an idyllic
existence.

But one day earlier this
summer, my owners picked me up and took me for a ride in their car. I thought
perhaps they were going on vacation and taking me with them. But instead, they
brought me to this conservation area and set me on this log at the edge of a
marsh pond. I was confused and distressed at first and appealed to my owners.

“Why
are you leaving me here? Don’t you like me anymore?”

“Oh no, Maurice,” they replied. “Please don’t think that. We love you. But we have a very important job for you. We are in the midst of troubled times. Many people are living in fear. Day after day they see reports in the news chock full of worrisome facts and figures that make it seem like the grim reaper is waiting outside their door .

“We
decided to leave you here so you would bring a smile to the faces of people who
walk by. For a moment or two, they will forget about their fears and enjoy life
the way they used to.”

I was humbled by the new
job they had given me and resolved to do it to the best of my ability. I have
observed and learned much from the creatures with which I share this lovely
pond. A Twelve-Spotted Skimmer dragonfly landed on me one day and I struck up a
conversation.

“You’re
quite pretty, Mr. Twelve-Spotted. I’ve admired you for some time now. But
yesterday I saw a bird swoop down and try to eat you. Doesn’t that make you
afraid to fly?”

“Well,
Maurice, there is always that risk. But if I gave into that fear, I would never
fly again. I do quite enjoy flying. It is what I was created to do. I figured
out that the risk of getting snatched by a bird is the price to be paid for the
joy of flying. So I choose to fly in the face of fear, if you will pardon the
pun, and embrace life.”

He was a very wise
dragonfly. He helped me better understand the important job I now have. I am
here to help humans understand that living in fear of what you do not understand
is a terrible trap. Far better to ask questions and understand for yourself
what it is you fear. Knowledge defeats fear.

My job is to be a symbol
for the freedom that comes from being a seeker of the truth.

I want you to understand
that the truth often lays buried beneath unexamined facts the same way new
growth awaits beneath the dead leaves of yesterday’s fears.

Take if from Maurice the
Marsh Gnome: Your creator meant for you to live and embrace life, not to hide
from it.

~ 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

Lookalike Hairstreaks: The Subtle Line Between Fact and Fiction

Hmmm, do you weigh the
evidence before you form your opinion?

The steamy, sweltering
days of summer have arrived on schedule despite the extraordinary times in
which we are living. Glory days for butterflies whose weather preference can be
summed up as the hotter the better.

There is nothing I enjoy
more than hiking through wildflower emblazoned meadows and sunny woodland
glades in search of my winged wonders. However, as much as I take pleasure in
the pastime for its pure pleasures, I also often find life lessons in the
bargain.

For nature geeks such as me, Hairstreaks are one of the most exciting finds for several reasons: they are by and large uncommon, their nickel-sized makes them easy to overlook, their lookalike appearance makes them a challenge to identify.

The Hairstreak at the top of this post is a Banded Hairstreak. The one directly above is a Striped Hairstreak. Can you see the difference? It takes a close
and deliberate examination to do so. They happen to be feeding on the same wildflower
which makes it all that much easier to mistake one for the other.

The life lesson: There
is very often a subtle line between fact and fiction. Those with vested
interests in a particular point of view will blur that line quite intentionally
to promote their agenda. And once they get us on their road, they will use all
the tools at their disposal to keep us there.

Lookalike Hairstreaks – a metaphor for the
necessity to make up our own minds, based on a thoughtful and independent examination
of the facts, rather than being hoodwinked by those who massage the truth for
their own purposes.

~  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.

The Significance of 53: A Metaphor for Unsettling Times

Hmmm, was it just an odd
dream or a message to keep the faith?

I seldom remember my
dreams other than a vague recollection. But one night earlier this week I had a
dream about which I did recall specific details. Being an analytical person, I
was able to connect most aspects of the dream with something in my day to day
life. Most but not all.

The
Dream: I was forced
to find a new place to live on very short notice. I was able to find and secure
a new apartment and move in within the improbable span of time of 48 hours.

Real
Life: Back in March
when COVID-19 hit Canada, things changed rapidly at my place of employment. On
a Friday we were told our offices were remaining open, but we should take our
laptops home just in case. By Sunday, within 48 hours, everything change and we
were told we would be working from home.

The
Dream: The apartment
I rented was unusually large by modern standards and was in an unusual L-shape
with two long, narrow areas.

Real
Life: Our lives have
been contracted into confined spaces during the COVID-19 lockdown and have been
literally bent out of shape. Subconsciously, we long for more room and freedom
to move around and for things to resume their normal pattern or shape.

The
Dream: The entrance
to my new apartment was odd. I had to pass from the hall through a set of doors
into a vestibule which was a work area for the apartment building staff. I then
had to pass through another set of doors to get into my apartment. Every time I
entered that vestibule I was momentarily confused thinking I was in my
apartment.

Real
Life: In this
work-at-home period, our home space and our work space are one and the same
which can be disorienting.

The
Dream: The entire
floor of the apartment building had a wraparound balcony with no dividers.
Everyone’s apartment opened on to this communal balcony.

Real
Life: During the COVID-19
lockdown, we have had to avoid contact with others and are craving more human
interaction.

But here is the odd
thing in the dream. The building manager came to my apartment and told me I
needed to provide extra cheques for $53 per month as I had overlooked a clause
in the lease. 53 is an oddly specific number, but not one I could make any
connection with.

I do not talk about it
much, but I do have a deep faith and a strong church connection. So I turned to
good old Google to see if the number 53 has a spiritual significance.

I stumbled on The Meaning of 53 website which
maintains that 53 is a number of great significance. Why? The number 3
represents the trinity – the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Certainly
cannot dispute that. The number 5 represents man – by virtue of the fact that
we have two arms, two legs and one head. A bit of a stretch, but it works.

53 itself is an
indivisible number, meaning it cannot be divided equally by any other number. Hence,
the number 53 is said to symbolize that we are indivisible with God.

I am not a religious
scholar, so I cannot speak to the validity of this spiritual interpretation.
But it provides an explanation for that one aspect of the dream that I could
not understand.

53: Indivisibility with
a greater presence. The metaphor provides me with some comfort in the odd and
unsettling time in which we are living. It may or may not work for you – just
putting it out there for what it may be worth.

~  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.

Star Trek Revisited: A Cautionary Tale for Current Times

Hmmm, is resistance
futile or a moral imperative?

I have never been what would
be described as a trekkie – the nickname
for diehard fans of the Star Trek
television series. But I did occasionally tune into some of the later
iterations of the series such as Deep
Space Nine.

What I found compelling
about the series was the alien races that were created as antagonists for the United Federation of Planets. Looking
back now, I can see that many of these alien races were a form of social
commentary – metaphors for personality types in our society.

KLINGONS

The Klingons, including the iconic Worf
who served with the Federation,
were a warrior race – swarthy humanoids characterized by prideful ruthlessness
and brutality. A complete language was developed for the Klingons which became somewhat of a cult.

Have you come across a Klingon in the course of your life?
Someone who sees every interaction as a battle to be won or lost. Frustrating
people to deal with, but they do serve a purpose – teaching us the importance
of standing up to bullies.

FERENGI

The Ferengi were a form of comic relief in Star Trek. But they also satirize a very real character type. Ferengis cared only about profit. They
had 285 Rules of Acquisition that
guided all their choices in life.

We all have a few Ferengi in our lives. They remind us how
easy it is to slide into the worship of material things instead of the
intangibles that are most important.

VULCANS

Whether you are a trekkie or not, you have most likely
heard of Mr. Spock who is the poster
child for the Vulcan race. Vulcans are known for striving to live
by logic and reason with as little interference from emotion as possible.

Is there a Spock in your life? I am willing to be
that there is. He or she can be irritating to deal with, but very useful to
have around when events start to spiral out of control.

THE BORG

Ah
yes, The Borg – perhaps the most
distinctive alien race and the most cutting social commentary. The Borg were a race without
individuality where every member is part of a collective consciousness to
achieve perfection. They travel the galaxy in cube-shaped spaceships forcefully
assimilating other species.

The Borg are mindless drones that slavishly
serve the collective for the greater good. Never questioning authority. Never
thinking for themselves. Never going their own way.

Be a Vulcan, or a Ferengi, or even a Klingon
if you must. But please, do not be a Borg.
Society is not well served by those who do not exercise their own intelligence.

We are the Borg. Resistance is futile. Or is it?

~  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.

The Lost Year: Plexiglass and Korean Baseball

“You’re
trying to eat grass that isn’t there. Why don’t you give it a chance to grow?” ~ Richard Adams, Watership Down

Hmmm, which iconic image
will define the lost year of 2020?

True confession: I am
watching a Korean Baseball Organization game on TSN this Sunday afternoon. The
Korean stadium is empty, except for four mascots and five cheerleaders in face
masks. But at least it is a live sports event. A sign of the times for all the
wrong reasons.

Most professional sports
remain shut-down due to the COVID-19 restrictions leaving fans with withdrawal
symptoms. Thankfully, professional golf has resumed play (sans spectators), so
I can switch over to the Charles Schwab Challenge
soon for my sports fix.

Note: I would much
rather be out hiking today even with the unseasonably cool temperature. But my
temperamental back is not being terribly cooperative right now. A two and a
half hour hike yesterday is all it will tolerate for this weekend.

When the COVID-19
lockdown began back in March, many of us did not expect it to last this long.
Were we naïve? Perhaps, but it has been difficult to read where things will go.
We have not been down this road before and therefore have no frame of
reference. We also did not take into account the subtle underlying forces that
drive political decision-making.

I certainly did not
expect that these images would become iconic in the summer of 2020.

Stressed courier drivers
running up the sidewalk, dropping the parcel on the front step, snapping a
picture of it (with the house number in view) on their digital device for
delivery verification, and running back to the truck for the record number of
deliveries still to be made.

A 25 person line-up to
get into Mark’s Work Warehouse on a Sunday morning – and an only slightly
shorter line-up for the Sportcheck next door.

Waiting at the gate to
the conservation area as a debit machine taped to an old hockey stick is
extended to me through a hole in a piece of plexiglass for payment. This year
may be the death knoll for actual cash.

Be
patient. Stay the course. We’ll get through this together.

That is the mantra for
2020 – a year that many are already referring to woefully as the lost year. If you are a
twenty-something, a lost year may be a mere inconvenience. But the age of 62,
with more productive years behind me than waiting ahead, it is a bitter pill to
swallow.

Patience is not my
strong suit and never has been. I am doing my best, in the spirit of the Richard
Adams metaphor, to cultivate it. The problem is that the grass is there to be eaten. But there is a
sheet of plexiglass between it and me and a sign that says:

Look, but don’t touch.

~ 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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