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.