Michael Robert Dyet's Blog, page 54

Fire Breathing Dragons, A 3,000 Pounds Metal Beast and Giggling Babies

Hmmm, are we irrevocably destined to be road warriors or is there a choice we can make?

Distracted driving is on everyone’s radar screen these days for obvious reasons. But there is another driving issue that I believe is an equally serious issue. It is called road rage.

There are different definitions for what constitutes road rage. I am referring to the explosive verbal and sometimes physical confrontations that erupt between vehicle drivers or between drivers and pedestrians.

Case in point: Earlier this week I stopped into a grocery store on my way home from work. A car horn sounded as I walked across the parking lot. (What is about that sound of a car horn that gets under people’s skin?)

Fifty feet away from me in the parking lot, I observed a minivan halfway around a corner. A pedestrian was standing beside the minivan berating the deriver in shouts loud enough for me to hear. The driver was responding but not loud enough for me to discern.

My guess is that the driver honked his horn at the pedestrian who carelessly crossed in front of his vehicle forcing him to brake abruptly. The pedestrian took offence and road rage ensued. A physical altercation did not erupt in this case but was only a heartbeat away occurring.

Why is this type of encounter happening so often these days? My take is that road rage is just the symptom. The stressed lives we in in our survival of the fittest society – overworked, always racing the clock, trying not to be the guy who gets screwed over – puts all of us on the razor edge of losing control at one time or another.

There is also something about operating 3,000 pounds of raw horsepower that flips a switch in our psyche. At a subconscious level, we become road warriors with a short fuse. The accumulated, simmering frustration from an assortment of annoyances gets channeled into that one encounter with an inconsiderate driver or pedestrian. The sum of the equation is road rage.

I confess that I am not immune. I grumbled and honked my horn at timid driver ahead of me who let several opportunities to turn left pass by waiting a for a 20 car length opening.

Automobile manufacturers pack a bewildering conglomeration of computer technology into the vehicles we drive these days. Admittedly, some of this technology is very helpful and enhances safety. But a chunk of it falls into the just-because-we-can category.

We would all be better served if these R&D experts turned their mind to technology that could monitor our stress level and automatically play a recording of babbling streams or giggling babies when our stress crosses into the red zone.

The fire breathing dragon of anger scorches anyone within its reach. Add in the power rush of driving a 3,000 pound metal beast and the result is road rage. The dragon cannot stop breathing fire. We have to find a way to stop stoking the dragon’s fire – and that responsibility rests with all of us. Take a moment, breathe and think of giggling babies – and don’t touch that horn!

~ Michael Robert Dyet is the author of “Until the Deep Water Stills – An Internet-enhanced Novel” – 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 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.

Growing Old Gracefully: Handy Coefficients and the Elephant in the Room

Hmmm, how can we grow old gracefully while resisting the unforgiving mistress and the great temptress?

My new Ontario health card with photo arrived today. My off-the-cuff reaction when I first saw it:

WTF? Who is that old guy? Great, they put somebody else’s photo on my card. Dumb asses!

Alas, it was the in-denial side of my brain that reacted first. The resigned-to-reality side of my brain piped up:

Um, that is you. You are kind of old. Yeah, they make you take your glasses which makes you look like someone else. But it really is you, Bud.

Somewhere around the age of 40, we start revising, on an ongoing basis, our self-assessment of what constitutes the threshold of old. It is a psychological defence mechanism we all possess. But eventually, no amount of denial can stave off what becomes self-evident.

So now, at the age of 57 rounding the corner on 58, I declare that I am… let’s say, in the stretch drive to old. I have a long ways to go before I become a senior citizen. There are a few places where 55 qualifies me for a senior’s discount. But I chose to decline that privilege for now.

How old we feel varies from day to day depending on a variety of factors. I have identified several coefficient equations that you may find helpful.

The Body Coefficient: The number of body parts that are cranky on any given day – divided by the amount of alcohol we have consumed (dosage varies person to person) – times the amount our waistline has increased since our last birthday.

The Weather Coefficient: The amount of sunlight on any given day (filtered by our prescription sunglasses) – divided by the amount the temperature is below 50 degrees or above 80 degrees – times the number of days until spring or before winter.

The Maple Leafs Coefficient: The number of years since the Leafs have been a contender –divided by Mike Babcock’s big ass salary – times the percentage likelihood that we will still give a damn when the Leafs finally break the curse. Admittedly, this one is region-specific.

The elephant in the room in our struggle to age gracefully is the fear that we did not make the most of our youth. Regret is a cruel and unforgiving mistress. We cannot turn back the clock. But we can, with a conscious effort, start appreciating the small pleasures of each day.

When all is said and done, today is all we really have. But every today has small pleasures. Tomorrow, the great temptress, may seem to promise a crowning glory. But what good is that to us if we do not make it there and we miss the small pleasures along the way?

~ Michael Robert Dyet is the author of “Until the Deep Water Stills – An Internet-enhanced Novel” – 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 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.

Sibling Admirals: Commander in Chief of the Butterfly Fleet

 

Hmmm, is there a hierarchy of command even in the butterfly world?

Instalment #2 of my beat-the-January-blues posts – another wistful look back on the winged wonders that passed my way during my summer rambles. My attention was drawn today to the always striking Admiral butterflies which grace many a woodland trail.

Admirals are large, eye-catching butterflies that alternate between quick wing beats and flat-winged glides. They are often found perching on trees along trails or on the ground in muddy spots – a behaviour known as puddling.

The Admirals pictured at the head of this post are a White Admiral and a Red-Spotted Purple.

No mystery why White Admirals are so named. The broad, jagged white bar across the blue-black wing is unmistakeable. A reminder that simple black and white can still be exquisite – particularly when offset against the broad green leaves within which this specimen is cradled. The scalloped, checkerboard pattern on the wing edges is literally icing on the cake.

Red-Spotted Purples are always a dazzling sight when they perch with their wings closed. The blotchy orange spots beg the question: Why it is called red-spotted? But why quibble in the face of such elegance? Mix in the blue-white frosting, the orange spot band and, once again, the scalloped, checkerboard pattern on the wing edges, and the total effect is mesmerizing.

Quite a striking pair of cousin species, wouldn’t you agree? But in fact they are more siblings than cousins as they are now considered to be the same species. South of the Great Lakes you will only see the Red-spotted Purple and north of Superior only the White Admiral.

I’m fortunate to live in the overlap zone, between the northern and southern range, so I see both on a regular basis. An added bonus in this overlap zone: There are occasionally intermediates (also known as intergrades) which show a blending of the two colour schemes.

I do not know who choose Admiral as the name of this species of butterfly or why they did so. But it seems quite appropriate, for those of us who trade in metaphors, to think of them as Commander in Chief of the butterfly fleet.

Admirals sail with effortless grace along woodland trails like protectors of their race. I for one am inclined to salute them and accord them the rank they unofficially have acquired.

~ Michael Robert Dyet is the author of “Until the Deep Water Stills – An Internet-enhanced Novel” – 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 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.

Migrating to the Light: All Creatures Great and Small

Hmmm, do we have more in common with deep ocean dwellers than we realize?

As an ardent birdwatcher, I derive great joy and much inspiration from the wonder of the spring and fall migration of birds. I never imagined that there might be an aquatic equivalent. But it turns out to be true, although this migration requires a bit more sophisticated equipment than a pair of binoculars.

Vertical Migration is a pattern of movement by small ocean organisms – notably crustaceans, which are generally less than an inch long – over a 24 hour period. Understanding this phenomenon requires a bit of knowledge of oceanography – specifically, the different levels or zones in the earth’s oceans each of which are progressively darker and colder.

Sunlight or Illuminated Zone. In this shallowest zone, there is enough sunlight for photosynthesis to occur. Photosynthesis (in case you cannot remember your high school biology) is the process used by plants and organisms to convert light energy to chemical energy. There is a high concentration of plants and animals in this zone.

Twilight or Middle Zone. This second layer has some sunlight but not enough for photosynthesis to occur. Consequently, fewer organisms live in this zone.

Midnight or Deep Zone. This layer is pitch black all the time and is home to a select group of deep ocean dwellers. Some of the species that call this zone home are bioluminescent which means that they emanate light. Fireflies of the deep, if you will.

Lower Midnight Zone. This lowest layer, once believed to be bottomless, is again pitch black as well as extremely cold with very high pressure. Only a few very hardy organisms are capable of living in this very inhospitable environment.

Now back to the original concept. Ocean species living in the lower three zones migrate upwards during the night to feed on zooplankton and other organisms that live in the Sunlight Zone. This vertical migration attracts small fish and ocean creatures who feed on these dwellers of the deep. Larger, predator species, such as sharks, in turn move in to feed on the fish.

In the early morning hours, the process reverses. Deep ocean creatures return to their home zone and the predator species disperse. An entire ebb and flow of migration every 24 hours.

Vertical Migration is one of many mysteries of the world’s oceans. Science is still only scraping the surface of these deep (literally and figuratively) secrets. Current analysis indicates that between 700,000 and one million species live in the world’s oceans with between one-third and two-thirds of these species yet to be named and described.

The daily Vertical Migration, upwards to the light and back to the depths, of deep sea ocean creatures can be seen as a metaphor for our own yearning toward the light. We strive each day for a little more understanding and more nourishment for our minds, hearts and souls.

Migrating to the light is a never-ending quest, for all creatures great and small, in which the process is as important as the destination.

~ Michael Robert Dyet is the author of “Until the Deep Water Stills – An Internet-enhanced Novel” – 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 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.

Diminutive Gifts from Mother Nature for the Curious at Heart

Lilypad Clubtail Dragonfly

Hmmm, what treasure trove of intricacy lies beyond the casual glance at a simple dragonfly?

It is around this time of year – a week or two into January – that winter-adverse souls such as I begin to experience that common condition known as cabin fever. With spring still several months away, I inevitably turn to my collection of winged wonder photographs from the warmer, kinder months for a remedy.

The specimen at the top of this post is a Lilypad Clubtail dragonfly. Dragonfly enthusiasts (yes, there are others who pursue this unusual hobby) alternately love and curse Clubtail dragonflies because they are so challenging to identify.

There are in the neighbourhood of 55 different Clubtails in eastern North America. Many of them are next to impossible to distinguish from one another unless you are an expert with the patience to capture a specimen in a net and scrutinize it under a hand magnifier.

So I how I do know – or at least am relatively certain – that this is a Lilypad Clubtail? No, it is not because it is sitting on a lily pad although that does help. It is the golden claspers at the tip of the abdomen (hard to see in this photo). They are one of Mother Nature’s countless gifts to worshipers such as I who desire to uncover to the intricacies that lie waiting to be discovered.

A golden-claspered Lilypad Clubtail – a random act of metaphor to remind me that the glories of nature range from the unfathomable infinite to millions of diminutive, subtle details which can sustain a lifetime of curiousity.

~ Michael Robert Dyet is the author of “Until the Deep Water Stills – An Internet-enhanced Novel” – 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 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.

Rubik’s Cube and the Ecological Math Equation

Hmmm, how significant is a 3º change in ocean temperatures?

Wondering why the front end of the winter of 2015/16 has been so mild or why the summer of 2015 was at times unusually cool? Well, it seems you can blame it on The Blob.

No, I am not talking about the cheesy 1958 science fiction/horror movie of that name which featured Steve McQueen battling at giant amoeba from outer space. I am referring to a climatological phenomenon which has been named The Pacific Blob.

The Pacific Blob is an enormous expanse of unusually warm water (3º warmer than usual) in the northern Pacific Ocean, first detected in the autumn of 2013, which is only now starting to dissipate. Climatologist Nicholas Bond is credited with coming up with the rather ironic name.

The Blob started out about 500 miles long and 300 feet deep. It eventually expanded to a stretch of 2,000 miles along the coast of North America from Mexico to Alaska. The Blob has three distinct patches:

The coast of Canada, Washington, Oregon and California in an area known to oceanographers as the Coastal Updwelling Domain
The coast of Alaska and the Bering Sea
The coast of Southern California and Mexico

Oceanographers have pegged the cause of The Blob as lower than normal rates of heat loss from the sea to the atmosphere. They do not know for certain what precipitated this change. But a contributing factor is a persistent region of atmospheric high pressure, over the far northeastern Pacific Ocean, dubbed the Ridiculously Resilient Ridge aka Triple R.

The Triple R phenomenon itself disrupted weather patterns, resulting in the extremely warm and dry conditions in California and the West coast, and contributed to the 2012 – 2015 North American drought.

In addition to spurring unusual weather patterns, The Pacific Blob is having a detrimental effect on marine life. Warm ocean waters are less nutrient rich than cold, upwelling waters resulting in lower levels of zooplankton and a trickle-up effect on the marine food chain. This may sound like scientific mumble-jumble. But the effects are real, including: 

Thousands of sea lion pups starving in California leading to forced beachings
Thousands of Cassins Auklets (a small sea bird) in Oregon starving due to lack of food
Reduced Salmon catches as the fish migrate away from the affected area

Think of the natural balance of our world like a Rubik’s Cube. If all the twists and turns work the way in which they were designed, the result is equilibrium. But any disturbance to the intricate relationship of interdependencies changes the sequence of twists and turns. Try as it might, nature cannot find its way back to equilibrium.

Phenomenon like The Pacific Blob and the Triple R do not happen on their own. Something we humans did threw a new twist into the equation. The ecological math no longer works and we are now living with the consequences.

~ Michael Robert Dyet is the author of “Until the Deep Water Stills – An Internet-enhanced Novel” – 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 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.

Cross-wired Instincts at the Mercy of Global Warming

Hmmm, is global warming messing with long established survival instincts?

Opinions are mixed about the unusually mild winter we’ve been having here in Ontario. Those of us who view winter as a season to be endured rather than enjoyed are quite happy to wake each morning to the mild temperatures. Aficionados of winter sports, on the other hand, are increasingly impatient for colder days and a good base of snow.

Our avian friends are equally confused and conflicted. It is normal for a few birds, which should be elsewhere, to be sighted here each winter. There are rebels in nature as in humans. But this winter has birders all atwitter with the number of unusual sightings.

A number of normally migrant songbirds have taken up winter residence here. A flycatcher in the lookalike Empidonax family had birders blood pumping when it was first thought to be a stray Hammonds. Eventually, majority consensus settled on a Yellow-Bellied – not quite so exotic, but still one that should be long gone by now.

But it is the number of truly rare sightings already recorded that really tells the tale.

Bullocks Orioles summer in the western half of the U.S. with rare sightings in the east. The farthest north they are normally found in winter is the coast of California. So how did one find its’ way to the village of Pakenham near Ottawa?

Even non-birders can surmise that a Mountain Bluebird, another western species, should by rights not be in Ontario at any time. (Not many real mountains to be found in these parts.) But one of these Bluebirds has also turned up in the Ottawa area.

Oh my, it’s a Smew! No, spell check did not mangle the word. Smews are small ducks native to Europe and Asia. On rare occasions, one somehow turns up in North America, inviting debates over whether it is a stray a long way from home or an escapee from an aviary. A lone Smew is hanging out on the St Lawrence River this winter.

Perhaps the most startling find to date is the tiny Vermillion Flycatcher which was an early Christmas present to birders in Wallaceburg in southwestern Ontario. Ordinarily, you would have to go the Gulf Coast of the U.S., and have luck on your side, to catch a look at this striking little song bird.

These vagrant birds are ships lost at sea in the storm of global warming. Their inborn instincts on where they ought to be have come unglued. As much as birders delight in unusual winter finds, the sad fact is that many of these strays will die when sub-zero temperatures finally arrive.

Sunshine and blue skies in December may warm our hearts. But they are very much a mixed blessing in the delicate balance of nature.

~ Michael Robert Dyet is the author of “Until the Deep Water Stills – An Internet-enhanced Novel” – 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 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.

Emojis, Emoticons and the Oxford Dictionary of the Future

Hmmm, is the rise of the emoji a call to arms for those of us who trade in metaphors?

I try to stay at least minimally versed in pop culture for the sake of staying in touch with the world around me. So when I heard that a social analytics company had conducted a study of 2,500 Instagram posts, by the top 100 global brands, to uncover the emoji that gets the best engagement for brands, I decided I needed to trace the evolution of this phenomenon.

A quick Wikipedia search revealed that emoji are “ideograms and smileys used in electronic messages and web pages”. Hmm, ideograms… smileys? Time to dig a little deeper.

Ideograms are graphic symbols that represent an idea or concept independent of any particular language. Okay, fair enough. On to smileys.

Smileys are stylized representations of a human face. The classic form – a yellow circle with two black dots representing eyes and a black arc representing the mouth – dates all the way back to 1963. On the internet, the smiley becomes an emoticon.

Emoticon? Sigh. Another techie term. Back to Google.

Definition sourced online: “An emoticon is a metacommunicative pictorial representation of a facial expression that, in the absence of body language and prosody, serves to draw a receiver’s attention to the tenor or temper of a sender’s nominal non-verbal communication, changing and improving its interpretation.”

Heavy sigh. So sorry I asked. But I will persevere in my quest for understanding.

It seems there is transcontinental cross-pollination involved as emojis originated in Japan. They (it?) were (was?) invented by a guy named Shigetaka Kurita who worked for NTT Docomo which manufactured pagers back in the 90’s. Emojis were apparently dreamed up to entice high school kids to use the pagers.

I’m back in the 90’s? Prolonged, head sagging sigh. Where did the time go?

As best I can determine, in the tradition of which came first – the chicken or the egg, it all began with the humble smiley face which was reborn on the internet as an emoticon. Emoticons got friendly (nudge nudge, wink wink) with ideograms, went to Japan on a cultural exchange program (I’m speculating here), morphed into emojis and the rest is etymology.

By the way, the Oxford Dictionary named the “Face with Tears of Joy” emoji its 2015 word of the year. I do not understand how an emoji won word of the year. Isn’t the whole idea of an emoji to make words obsolete? I fear that, on some not too distant day, I will open the Oxford Dictionary and see nothing but pages and pages of emojis.

What will happen to metaphors when emojis rule the world of communications? Metaphors are elegant, thought-provoking and more than the sum of their parts. They are the red blood cells of language. Emojis, on the other hand, are language robbers. I am not sure the two can peacefully coexist. War must surely breakout. If it does, you know which side I will be on.

~ Michael Robert Dyet is the author of “Until the Deep Water Stills – An Internet-enhanced Novel” – 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 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.

Smart Cities, Electric Clams and the Kaleidoscope of Human Imagination

Hmmm, will the next generation of internet connectivity be a dystopian nightmare or a revealing light of hope?

The year is 2050. You are living in Cyberville. Information and communication technologies have been harnessed to wirelessly link urban services. Traffic management, energy use, health care, water use and waste management are all integrated on the smart grid to reduce costs and predict resource consumption. All this happens seamlessly in cyberspace.

It is known as a smart city and it is closer to fact than science fiction thanks to IoT. IoT stands for the Internet of Things – a network of physical objects (i.e. things) embedded with electronics, software, sensors and network connectivity. Experts predict there will be 50 billion objects in the IoT by the year 2020.

In simple terms, the Internet of Things enables objects to be controlled remotely across existing network infrastructures. The result is direct integration between the physical world and computer-based systems.

An aside: British entrepreneur Kevin Ashton is credited with coining the term back in 1999. I for one am sorely disappointed by his lack of creativity. Had a writer have been brought into the equation, he or she could have crafted a far more engaging name!

So what, you ask, are the potential applications for this new age technology? The possibilities are startling: 

Heart monitoring implants
Biochip transponders on farm animals
Automobiles with built-in sensors
DNA analysis devices for environmental or food pathogen monitoring
Field operation devices that assist firefighters in search and rescue operations
Intelligent shopping systems that monitor users’ purchasing habits
Collecting information from natural ecosystems
Electric clams in coastal waters

Electric clams? I kid you not. Scientists have apparently figured out how to make a clam into an electricity generator. It has something to do with an enzyme that coats a carbon-based electrode which is then placed between the clam’s body wall and heart. How this factors into the Internet of Things is much too complicated for my middle-aged brain to comprehend.

There is a camp of critics who perceive the Internet of Things as a dystopian nightmare in which everyone and everything will be monitored on the internet. Orwell’s metaphorical Big Brother crossing over from fiction to reality. I will resist the temptation to jump on that bandwagon.

Instead, I am opting for kaleidoscope as a hopeful metaphor for the Internet of Things – the light of technology shining through the optic of human imagination revealing a continually shifting array of possibilities. In the final analysis, It is all about choosing the right possibilities and consciously discarding – if necessary, outlawing – the wrong ones.

~ Michael Robert Dyet is the author of “Until the Deep Water Stills – An Internet-enhanced Novel” – 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 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.

A Christmas Carol – Scrooge Revisited in the 21st Century

Hmmm, is Dickens’ classic Christmas tale still relevant today so many generations later?

Last night, I wound down from a busy work week by watching Scrooged – the rather irreverent version of Dicken’s novella A Christmas Carol starring Bill Murray. It started me pondering why Dickens morality play has become one of the most enduring pieces of literature and entertainment. A short history lesson is required here.

There have been over 20 film versions of A Christmas Carol over the years. (For my money, the 1951 version starring Alistair Sims is the definitive one.) Plus over 30 television adaptations, 17 radio adaptations and, yes, even four operatic versions.

Dickens was one of the greatest novelists of his era and by the twentieth century was hailed as a literary genius. No argument from me: A Tale of Two Cities is on my personal list of the greatest novels of all time. However, his status as a best-selling author was waning in 1843. A Christmas Carol put him back on the literary map and remarkably has never been out of print.

If you’ve read Dickens works, you know that – in addition to creating some of the most memorable literary characters of all time – he was a social critic who drew attention to the plight of the poor. Dicken’s own childhood experiences were in part what drove him as a novelist. He left school to work in a factory when his father was incarcerated in a debtors’ prison.

Social hierarchy was part of the fabric of Victorian society. Lifestyle varied greatly from the Upper Class to the Middle Class to the Working Class. If you were unfortunate enough to be in the Under Class – the poor, orphans and prostitutes, life was a daily misery.

A lot has changed in the world since the days of Victorian England. The class system is less predominant in some respects in modern society. By the same token, a lot has stayed the same. The economic divide between the upper class and lower class remains and is widening. Many argue that the middle class is being squeezed and will eventually cease to exist.

There has always been a prickly tension in society arising from competing socioeconomic interests. This tension periodically gives rise to revolution and violence as the have-nots rise up against the haves. Historically, this behaviour often manifests itself in cycles over time.

I have written in this blog about my perception of a growing sense of apathy in society. It’s not my problem. I don’t want to rock the boat. Nothing I can do will make a difference. The reality is this: apathy does not stay apathy forever. Eventually it reaches a critical mass at which point it reverses itself and a new cycle of uprising is born.

Dickens made the term Scrooge a metaphor for miserliness, misanthropy and a disregard for the less fortunate. The moral of his story – Mankind is my business! – is clear to all. 160+ years later his message is still, sad to say, as relevant as it ever was.

This Christmas let us shake off apathy, open our eyes and take to heart the moral of A Christmas Carol. Remember: There but for the grace of God, go I.

~ Michael Robert Dyet is the author of “Until the Deep Water Stills – An Internet-enhanced Novel” – 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 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.