Michael Robert Dyet's Blog, page 66

Summer 2013 Retrospective: Winged Jewels That Passed My Way

Hmmm, will we learn our lessons well enough to protect the irreplaceable gift of nature’s winged jewels?

The page on the calendar will roll over to September tomorrow. And while summer doesn’t officially end until September 21, for most of us it feels like the season is behind us. So it seems the right time for a retrospective of my summer ramblings in search of butterflies.

June 30, Palgrave Conservation Area: The orange flash of Great Spangled Fritillary scooting by is always a thrill even though it is quite common. This picture-perfect specimen is one of the most striking I have seen. Lesson learned: There are degrees of perfection in nature of which we only occasionally catch glimpses.

Great Spangled Fritillary

July 13, Caledon Trail: This striking Baltimore Checkerspot, a “lifer” for me, was one of my summer highlights. It’s known to be scarce in this area. Was it perhaps blown north by the epic and destructive rain storm on July 8? Lesson learned: Even the destructive forces of nature have silver linings.

Baltimore Checkerspot

July 28, Hilton Falls Conservation Area: This elegant and gracefully adorned Gray Comma brightened up an usually cool July day. It’s another species in the scarce category and difficult to identify without a very good look. This one was unusually cooperative. Lesson learned: Nature responds with her sweeter graces to those who are respectful and patient.

Gray Comma

August 4, Terra Cotta Conservation Area: Monarch butterflies were scarce this summer. But Viceroys, which have evolved to mimic Monarchs, seemed eager to stand in for them. This gorgeous mating pair was the highlight of another chilly summer day. Lesson learned: We can ill afford to lose any of nature’s creatures when they are this breathtaking.

Mating Viceroys

These are just a few of the jewels that passed my way this summer. Butterflies continue to be a source of endless fascination for me. There are metaphors for the abundance of nature – but also for its fragility.

Monarch butterfly populations crashed this year for several reasons. (A subject for another post.) I worry that my winged creatures may not be resilient enough to withstand our ecological footprint on our planet. I’m not sure I could live without them. I hope I never have to find out.

~ 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”

nstructions 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.

 

Fugitive Passwords, a Coup D’etat and the Digital Divide

Hmmm, do missing passwords go to the same mysterious place as lost socks?

It has been one of those weeks in my work life. You know what I mean. Hectic, nerve fraying, whatever can go wrong, will go wrong. Deadlines are slipping away from my grasp like a feather in the wind. Last minute changes to yesterday’s last minute changes.

So it just figures that I would come home and find a security warning e-mail message from my web host. Some unscrupulous person has launched a bot that is attempting to break into sites using the blog platform my sites are built on. They strongly advise changing passwords.

So I dutifully log into one of my sites and reset the password. Log out and attempt to log back in. Can you guess? The new password doesn’t work. Neither does the old one. How is this &%$#$ possible?!?!

Next step, of course, is to click the “forgot password” button. Type in my user name for verification. Off it goes, assuring me that I will get an e-mail that enables me to do the password change – which, of course, doesn’t happen.

I’m in that generation, now known as digital immigrants, which remembers when computers didn’t exist as well as when they first started to infiltrate our lives. We adapted to computers by necessity because it is pretty much impossible to earn a living otherwise in this day and age.

The generation that followed are known as digital natives because they grew up with computer technology. It makes sense to them. They intuitively understand how it works.

There is a clear divide between these generations. Digital natives wonder how anyone ever got by before computers existed. Digital immigrants wonder why in God’s name someone thought the damn things would be a good idea. Secretly, we’re plotting a coup d’etat in which every computer in existence is destroyed and we return to the good old days when Pong was the cutting edge.

Here’s my confession – technology makes me feel utterly helpless. I know how to use it but haven’t a clue what to do when it fails which it all too often does. The door to cyberspace slams closed and all of us digital immigrants can only stand in front of it looking forlorn.

There are exceptions to the rule. I know some people in my generation who are quite tech savvy. Thank God for them because they are still able to feel empathy for the rest of us. Digital natives regard us with puzzlement. How can you not understand?

I’ve had enough brain drain for today so I’ll shut down the beast and hope that tomorrow things are magically back to normal. Sometimes, to my amazement, it happens. The cyber beasts fix themselves… or unbreak themselves… or reconfigure themselves… or reboot themselves… whatever the proper terminology may be.

I do take solace in one fact. Computers don’t partake of metaphors and never will. They’re too linear and logical. Tech engineers will no doubt tell me a computer can be programmed to do just about anything. But that’s the whole point – you don’t program a metaphor. They’re organic and fuzzy by nature which is why I like them so much.

So I’ll coexist with computers because I can’t avoid them. But metaphors and I will continue our love affair offline. Metaphors never slam the door closed. They are forever opening doors and inviting me in – like all true friends and lovers do.

~ 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.

 

The Faces I’ve Been on the Road Less Travelled

But in lookin’ back at the faces I’ve been – I would sure be the first one to say – When I look at myself today – Wouldn’t've done it any other way  ~ The Hard Way Every Time – Jim Croce, American Singer-Songwriter, 1943 – 1973

Hmmm, could it be that Croce was stating a universal truth in this simple folk song?

As a child, we live very much in the moment. What we are doing right now is the most important thing. It’s a luxury we have because we haven’t yet had to assume the mantle of responsibility. Or to put in another way, our responsibility is simply to enjoy life as it happens.

As a young adult, we still possess the ability to live in the moment. But we begin to spend time looking ahead and anticipating what is coming. Today is a good place to be but we’re convinced that tomorrow, next month and next year is going to be even better. Our responsibility shifts from living in the moment to laying the ground work for what our life will be all about.

Somewhere along the way – at different ages for different people but generally in the middle years – we experience the conviction that we have arrived. We’ve acquired relationships, possessions and a healthy dose of the responsibility that comes with these things.

At this stage, we feel like we should be perfectly content. Our expectations, not to mention societal values, have led us to believe that we should be at the this-is-as-good-as-it-gets point in our lives. If we’re among the fortunate ones, this is arguably true.

And yet, in the quiet moments, we yearn for those earlier years of sweet anticipation and chafe a bit against the burden of responsibility we’ve taken on. We wonder if we have surrendered a bit of our dreams and given in to society’s convention of what a successful person’s life should look like. Maybe, just maybe, there was something even better out there that we could have found if we’ve made a few different¸decisions.

At this point, there is a divergence. Some of us resolve the inner conflict and find true contentment. We reach the conviction that whatever else is out there isn’t worth the price we would have to pay to acquire it. The life we have is the life we want. The weight of responsibility, and the joy our life brings us, is in equilibrium.

But for some of us, for reasons partly of our own making and partly of forces over which we have no control, the pieces don’t quite fit together in the middle years. We struggle to hold it all together but ultimately realize that we can’t. The life we have has missed the mark. The price of staying put is too high. We have to admit to what seems like failure and resign ourselves to starting over.

But the news is not all bad. Time heals the wounds and brings us a deeper understanding. We arrive, slowly and with some resistance, at the conviction that we were meant for a life less conventional. Our responsibility has a different hue than the majority.

And, as Croce tells us, when we look at ourselves today, we realize that we wouldn’t – and couldn’t – have done it any other way. We adopt the metaphor of life as a road. We’re destined to walk a less travelled one. Exactly where that road will lead us isn’t clear. But we evolve the ability to accept that uncertainty. It may be the hard way but it is our 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.

 

In Praise of the Majestic “Great Lakes”

Hmmm, how often do we fail to see the grandeur in our lives because we mistake it for the commonplace?

I’ve lived in the Great Lakes Basin my entire life. I was born a half hour drive away from Lake Erie and have lived a good part of my life forty minutes from the shores of Lake Ontario. In some ways, the Great Lakes are a part of my identity. And yet, I have to admit that I’ve come to take them for granted.

For those of you not familiar with the Great Lakes, they are a chain of five connected lakes – Erie, Ontario, Michigan, Huron and Superior – which form a single interconnected body of fresh water which connects to the St Lawrence River and, ultimately, the Atlantic Ocean.

A few examples of what makes The Great Lakes so great:

They are the largest system of fresh, surface water on Earth containing approximately 21% of the world’s supply of fresh water – enough water to cover the 48 contiguous U.S. states to a uniform depth of 9.5 feet.

Their total surface of 94,250 square miles is roughly equal to the size of the United Kingdom.

It takes a drop of water nearly 400 years to travel from the headwaters of Lake Superior to the edge of Lake Ontario.

More than 150 species of fish make their home in the Great Lakes.

No one knows for sure the total length of the Great Lakes coastline. But it is estimated at 10,500 miles – roughly the distance of almost half the Earth’s equator.

Dispersed throughout the Great Lakes are approximately 35,000 islands – two of which are large enough to contain multiple lakes themselves. In fact, Manitoulin Island’s Lake Manitou is the world’s largest lake located on a freshwater island.

The Great Lakes have been sailed upon since the 17th century. Thousands of ships sit at the bottom of them. The Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum approximates 6,000 ships and 30,000 lives lost while other sources estimate the number of wrecks at closer to 25,000.

In the period between 1816, when the Invincible was lost, to the sinking of the Fitzgerald (immortalized in the classic Gordon Lightfoot

song) in 1975, the Whitefish Point area alone has claimed at least 240 ships.

In truth, it is one of the great privileges of my life to have spent 50 plus years in the vicinity of this majestic, natural wonder. I could call up any number of metaphors on their behalf – the splendour of nature, the unmeasured abundance of our planet Earth, the interconnectedness of all living things. The list goes on.

Today it seems most important to recalibrate my sense of the commonplace and rediscover the grandeur that exists in my own backyard. The Great Lakes are a part of who I am and for that I am truly grateful.

~ 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.

 

Off the Clock with T.S. and a Hidden Creature of the Meadow

There will be time, there will be time

To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet,

There will be time to murder and create,

And time for all the works and days of hands

That lift and drop a question on your plate;

Time for you and time for me,

And time yet for a hundred indecisions,

And for a hundred visions and revisions,

Before the taking of a toast and tea.

~ T.S. Eliot, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock

Hmmm, is it still possible, within the raging river that our world has become, to find a quiet oxbow where there is time for you and time for me?

I’m giving some consideration, albeit reluctantly, to investing in a Blackberry or one of its competitors. I’ve stubbornly held out against doing so for a number of years. It has always seemed to me that the day I cross that threshold I will be chaining myself to technology and surrendering the last vestiges of simplicity in my life.

Unfortunately, it’s tough to stay unplugged in this mile-a-minute world we live in. Time seems contracted as if we’re all moving at warp speed. My brain is having difficulty keeping up. Seems I stop to take a breath and suddenly I’m missing a meeting I’m supposed to be at.

In truth, my life is uncomplicated compared to many people around me. And yet I find myself sprinting through much of the week trying to get ahead of the race. I want to believe I bank some time and then cash it in for a day off the clock. A leisurely, self- indulgent day to ponder…

Halloween Pennant Female

How such a striking and wondrously delicate thing as a Halloween Pennant can still exist in a world gone mad.

How such a fragile body can have mastery over those resplendent, amber wings with their intricately etched veins and elaborate symmetry.

How the tender green shoot can bend so lovingly to support the creature that clings to it.

How such exquisite things can continue to exist in a world that daily encroaches more and more upon the gentle meadow which they call home for a few short weeks.

This resilient little dragonfly, which could shelter comfortably in the hollow of my hand, teaches me that it is still possible to step away from the raging river now and then. It is my enduring metaphor for the hope that there is still time for “a hundred visions and revisions, Before the taking of a toast and tea”.

~ 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.

Top 10 Ways to Tell You’re No Longer in the Prime Demographic

Hmmm, if age is only a state of mind, why is it that my mind is showing so many distressing signs of aging?

Somewhere around the half century mark we enter the “I remember when” stage of life in which we look back longingly on the good old days and wish we could turn back the clock. In the spirit of that mood of retrospection, I offer my top 10 list for signs that you’re not a young buck anymore.

# 1. You regularly pine for the days when a good mechanic was a forty-something guy who could tell what was wrong with your car just by listening to it rather than a twenty-something kid reading a printout from a computer.

#2. You subscribe to Netflix because you’re hard pressed to find anything you want to watch on the 70+ basic cable channels. But you rarely watch a Netflix movie because it seems like too much hassle to scan through all the selections and make a choice.

#3. You realize you have five times as many friends on Facebook as you do in real life and you can’t decide whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing.

#4. You remember when there was only one type of gas, it cost less than 50 cents a gallon and you never had to pump it yourself.

#5. You do two laps of the cereal aisle at the grocery store before resigning yourself to the fact that your choice has to be based more on fibre content than taste.

#6. You can’t figure how you missed the news that stopping at red lights had become optional and use of car horns at intersections had become mandatory.

#7. You remember the two dollar bill and when you could buy lunch with it and get change back.

#8. You buy the chocolate cake at the bakery because it looks lonely and seems to need a good home.

#9. You no longer own a bathroom scale because you’ve come to accept that there are some things about yourself you’d rather not know.

#10. You realize that “10” is nowhere near enough numbers to cover all the things that remind you that you’re on the plus side of 50 and at high risk of becoming cranky, eccentric and irretrievably set in your ways.

Well aged wine is the metaphor most often used to put a positive spin on passing the half century mark. I think it’s time to uncork the bottle and indulge. I need a bit of a buzz to accept the fact that I’m not in the prime demographic for anything anymore

~ 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

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Standing Alone on Judgement Day

“A man is born alone and dies alone; and he experiences the good and the bad consequences of his karma alone; and he goes alone to hell or to the Supreme abode.” ~ Chanakya, Ancient Indian Teacher and Philosopher

Hmmm, perhaps we have more to learn from Sir Isaac Newton than the laws that govern the dynamics of motion.

I don’t remember much from five years of high school physics. It was never my strong subject. The natural sciences appealed to me but the mathematical foundation of physics rubbed me the wrong way.

There is, however, one principle of physics that did stick in my brain – Newton’s third law of motion. The popular, simplified version goes like this:

“To every action there is always an equal and opposite reaction.”

I found it reassuring to believe that there is a fundamental balance to the world. I didn’t think it through any deeper than that in my younger days. I simply held onto it as a constant that made the deep mysteries of life seem a little bit less intimidating.

Now that I’m on the other side of 50, I’ve begun to expand my understanding of that principle. I now see a point of convergence between physics, philosophy and religion. It seems to me that the principle of karma – that one’s actions bring upon oneself inevitable results, good or bad – is both consistent with and supportive of Newton’s third law.

And so, I am able to be more philosophical about those things which for many years have made me want to bang my head against a wall. For instance:

To the individual who is relentlessly bombarding my blog with spam 150+ spam comments a day for self-serving reasons which I won’t speculate upon…

To the guy who recklessly ran the red light on Dixie Road this week, while I was waiting to turn left, putting both our lives in jeopardy…

To the malcontents who have hacked my blogs in the past, for the pure twisted pleasure of it, causing me major headaches and frustration…

To the unscrupulous predators that make their living from scams and cons which cheat innocent people out of their hard earned money…

To the religious and political extremists who believe the end justifies the means even when the means is the taking of innocent lives…

In short, to any and all who believe they are above or exempt from the law or moral principles or common decency, or simply don’t give a damn…

Consider Newton’s third law of motion as a metaphor for the ponderous mountain of karma that is building up against you. You will have to pay the piper one day. And when that day comes, you’ll be staring it down all on your own. For that, I pity you.

~ 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 . Visit www.smashwords.com to download a free preview of the e-book version.

~ 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.

 

 

 

 

Exclamation Point Days and Our Extravagant Aspirations

Hmmm, are those handful of exclamation point days in our lives a call to action for our deepest desires?

Most of the days that make up our lives are singularly unremarkable. We go about our well established routines. Time passes without incident. It’s a good day when we get to the end of it having met our obligations and not messed up on anything.

Ask me what I did two weeks ago today. I couldn’t tell you much more than: Went to work, took care of business, came home, took care of business, went to bed. I became a day older, perhaps just slightly wiser and one step closer to the weekend.

And then there are the “where were you when…” days. Those handful of days when something dramatic happened that fixes in your mind a specific moment in time. The leading candidates on my list:

Where were you when… 9-11 redefined the meaning of terrorism and swept away any illusion of security we once had.

I remember with perfect clarity… I was on the 28th floor of an office tower in Toronto – not a reassuring place to be. Later, I was at Union Station trying to fight my way onto a bus when the entire commuting population of a city of 2.8 million people was trying to escape the city at the same time.

Where were you when… cascading blackouts, originating in Ohio on an otherwise ordinary August 14, combined to form the great Northeast Blackout of 2003 that left 10 million Canadians and 45 million Americans without power for as many as  two days.

I remember with perfect clarity… I was at work when the power went out. Not knowing how widespread the problem was, I headed for Union Station and was lucky enough to get on a train back to the suburbs. It was the next day before I understood the full extent of the blackout.

And most recently, where were you when… the great rainstorm of July 8, 2013 set a new one day record dumping 126 mm of rain on Toronto and Mississauga – flooding subway stations, go train tracks, city streets and basements – knocking out power for some areas for up to two days.

I will remember with perfect clarity… I was hiking at local conservation area. Thankfully, the sweltering heat made me pack it in early. I got home half an hour before the storm hit. I watched the torrents of rain from my 18th floor apartment window with both awe and a bit of fear.

We can all name many more where were you when days. For you, they might be:  When the space shuttle Columbia disintegrated over Texas and Louisiana… When Neil Armstrong spoke those historic words “That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind”… When JFK was assassinated in Dallas.

Life is made up of thousands and thousands of unexceptional days, which pass like clouds drifting lazily across the horizon, punctuated by a handful of exclamation point days that fix themselves in our consciousness.

Perhaps those exclamation point days are simultaneously metaphors for our hopes, dreams and deepest desires. We hope to be more than ordinary. We dream of leaping off the page of life. We secretly desire to etch ourselves into the annals of time.

The where were you when, exclamation point days remind us that we’d better get on moving on our extravagant aspirations. For there is no guarantee that we’ll be around tomorrow to do what we didn’t have the courage to attempt today.

~ 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.

 

Soul Stirring Moments with Winged Dragons

 

Delta-Spotted Spiketail

Clouds of insects danced and buzzed in the golden autumn light, and the air was full of the piping of the song-birds. Long, glinting dragonflies shot across the path, or hung tremulous with gauzy wings and gleaming bodies. ~ Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Scottish Physician & Writer, 1859 – 1930

Hmmm, is it possible to explain my fascination with the winged creatures of our world? Or is the inexplicability of it part of the fascination?

I snapped this photograph of a Delta-spotted Spiketail dragonfly last weekend during one of my nature outings. FYI: It is about 2-1/2” inches long and quite striking when it glides by patrolling the spring-fed trickles and small streams that it frequents.

I know it may seem like no big deal to you. After all, it is only one of the 330 + dragonflies that inhabit eastern North America.

But here’s the thing. In the half a dozen years in which I’ve amused myself watching and studying these creatures, this is the first Delta-spotted Spiketail I have ever seen. It’s a “lifer” in nature geek terms. Number 95 on my life list of dragonflies and damselflies.

A few “did you knows” about dragonflies just because they tickle my fancy:

Did you know that the way dragonflies perch is diagnostic in identifying them? Some perch horizontally, others hang vertically from a plant or branch and some perch at a 45 degree angle.

Did you know that their compound eyes have nearly 30,000 lenses giving them the finest vision in the insect world?

Did you know that some dragonflies migrate south like birds with another generation returning the next spring?

Did you know that some dragonflies maintain an internal temperature of up to 110 degrees Fahrenheit by burning calories during physical exertion and by staying in the sun?

I can’t tell you exactly why I am so taken with these winged dragons. It’s all of the above and much more that I can’t explain. Winged creatures in general capture my fascination. Nothing else stirs my soul and unravels the stresses of modern life more than a sun-bleached day tracking and observing them.

I can tell you this. Sighting a new dragonfly, like this dashing Delta-spotted Spiketail, is to me a living metaphor for the endless bounty, beauty and grace of nature. No matter how many times I take to the fields and meadows and marshes, the well never runs dry.

Few things in life offer that kind of promise. So I will continue to don my Tilly Hat and immerse myself in nature whenever the opportunity arises. I hope my last day on earth is spent in that very way. If it is, I will die gloriously happy.

~ 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 . Visit www.smashwords.com to download a free preview of the e-book version.

~ 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 Heart-Stopping Near Miss On a Typical Tuesday

Hmmm, what lessons should I take from those chilling few seconds on an otherwise typical Tuesday morning?

Earlier this week, on my drive to work on a rainy morning, I witnessed a heart-stopping “near miss” that gave me pause to reflect. I was stopped, on a three land road at a major intersection, behind a line of cars waiting for the stoplight to turn. I glanced to my left and saw a vehicle speeding toward the stopped cars in the adjacent lane. The driver was obviously distracted and unaware that he/she was approaching an intersection.

I was certain I was about to witness a terrible accident with serious injuries if not fatalities. Fortunately, fate intervened. The driver snapped to attention at the very last second and swerved violently missing the last car in the lineup by two feet at most. By the grace of God, the driver had quick reflexes and good tires that withstood the risky manoeuvre on wet roads.

I wondered if the driver of the car that was nearly rear-ended had any idea what had almost happened. Was she looking in the rear view mirror paralyzed with fear and feeling utterly helpless? Or was she completely unaware that she narrowly escaped a horrible, life altering experience? I hope it was the latter.

The experience reminded me once again that we are all living on borrowed time. Life can change radically in the blinking of an eye. Regardless of how carefully we navigate our way through life, one careless act by a total stranger can have a lifetime of consequences.

A heart-stopping near miss on an otherwise typical Tuesday – a random act of metaphor to remind me that life is precious and fragile and that I need to make the most of every day. There might not be a tomorrow for me to make up lost time.

~ Michael Robert Dyet is the author of “Until the Deep Water Stills – An Internet-enhanced www.mdyetmetaphor.com or the novel online companion at www.mdyetmetaphor.com/blog . Visit www.smashwords.com to download a free preview of the e-book version.

~ 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.