On that Fateful Friday: Should We Have Looked Back?

Hmmm, did we know whatwe were leaving behind when we clocked out on that fateful Friday?

It is coming up on 11months since many of us started our working at home marathon. I remember thatFriday when we were told to take our laptops home just in case. Before the weekend was over we all got the call thatthe decision had been made. We never imagined that it would last this long.

I had to make a trip tothe office where I (used to) work this week to have my laptop replaced. I wascurious about the drive down Dixie Road through Brampton and into Mississauga.

I thought that afteralmost a year many changes would have occurred in the retail and industrialareas along that stretch. After all, we live in a time of unrelenting change.But to my surprise, the landscape was entirely unaltered.

I had a similarexperience as I sat in my cubicle in the office waiting for my files to be transferredonto my new laptop. My cubicle looked exactly the same as when I left it.Reports I had generated that final Friday were still sitting on my desk. Theneat array of file folders on the counter behind me was untouched.

I stood up and took awider look around. The “On Vacation” banner on my co-worker’s cubicle was stillthere. Notes and memos pinned to cubicle walls still hung like silentsentinels. The picture on the wall by the window was still slightly askew as I rememberedit to be.

We left the office calmlythat Friday. But it looked to me now like we had bugged out because a hurricanewarning had been received. Yet there were no outward signs that the storm hadhit. It felt like the space had been frozen in time the minute I walked out thedoor. It was very spooky.

Remember the mutant in the X-men movies who couldstop time? People were literally frozen in mid-step with expressions locked inthe moment. I felt like that mutant fora moment.

I suppose I should notbe so surprised. In many ways, life hasbeen put on hold. The pause buttonwas pushed and got stuck in the onposition. No small feat at time when change is a charging bull rampaging throughthe china shop of life.

When my shiny, new laptopwas ready, I collected a few personal possessions left behind – a pair ofshoes, a notebook, a water bottle and a couple of books – and calmly left. Icould not help but wonder how long it would be before I set foot in there againand whether the space would still look eerily unchanged.

The biblical story of Lot and his wife in the book of Genesis comes to mind. Lot was told byvisiting angels to flee the coming destruction of Sodom. Flee for your life. Do not look behind you, nor stop anywhere in thePlain; flee to the hills lest you be swept away.

Lot’s wife succumbed tothe temptation, looked back and was turned into a pillar of salt.

I wonder now if themorale of that story is to do as we are told and not to look back… or to takeone last long look  before turning awayfrom what once was and perhaps never will be quite the same ever again.

~  Now Available Onlinefrom Amazon, Chapters Indigo or Barnes & Noble: Hunting Muskie, Rites ofPassage – Stories by Michael Robert Dyet

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

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