Friday, July 20, 2007

Be prepared

(Click to enlarge)

I shot this photo outside a little plaza of some sort in Key West a couple of years ago. The image strikes me as both humourous and symbolic. In this instance, the shark carved into the timber is no threat to the very much alive chicken, nor to the little chicks she was hiding beneath her feathers. In real life, though, everything isn't always what it seems. We get used to things. What might have been unacceptable once, gradually, through continued exposure, becomes seemingly nonthreatening, normal, acceptable. We become complacent, malleable, willing sheep to be shorn.

Eternal vigilance is necessary. The sharks that surround us all may not be finned and sleek like the ones in our oceans, but they are just as real. And they are just as likely to take a bite out of us. I have had a sense of unease about me these last few days, the sort of feeling one might have while waiting for the proverbial 'other shoe' to fall. I don't know what it means. Maybe nothing. That would be good. I don't want to go through life wondering who or what is going to bite me in the ass next. I hope the many fools and zealots in the world around us aren't up to some mischief somewhere.

Have a great weekend.

7 comments:

  1. Curious, that feeling of yours. I have also had that uneasy feeling since Tuesday. It has been followed by a number of unpleasant events but that doesn't quite explain away the feeling itself.

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  2. Very true.

    And this is a delightful image, the unconcerned hen sitting--no doubt, clucking-- as the menacing ancient fish looms. Then again, the chicken is a triumph over the fish, her upwardly mobile relatives having had the gumption to don legs and crawl up out of the slime and into the fresh air. The fish should be afraid of the chicken- for she hath mighty spurs.

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  3. Maybe it will all turn out to be nothing, lin. I hope so. I am incurably optimistic and always look for the best in everything, whether circumstances or people. I don't want anything bad to happen but it would be foolish in the extreme not to be prepared, even if only psychologically.

    phlegmfatale: That rise from the slime you mention is analogous somewhat to us humans advancing inexorably upwards, even amidst all of the morons wanting to pull us back into the stone age.

    I got a chuckle out of reading the last word in your comment (spurs)and then looking at your sheriff's star avatar. That seals the deal for me: horses, guns, gumption, brains. Tell your significant other how lucky he is. Tell him I said so.

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  4. yep, i've had that feeling too...

    i'm not sure what it is, and it has been a long time since i have had it so i don't remember if it was really a foreboding of something that was about to happen.

    perhaps it is just freefloating anxiety relating to a long-term dissatisfaction with some aspect of your life...

    it's good that you are the eternal optimist - i am that too - which seems kind of contradictory because i am an awful worrier...

    Anyway, i hope the feeling is either resolved, or just goes away but keep us updated in any event.

    saw you over at *heartsinsanfrancisco* and was curious about "atavist* - don't know the word, will have to look it up.

    cheers for now,
    pj (at Flamingo's Hideaway)

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  5. Thanks, PJ -- I've added you to my blogroll. You're right about the feeling uneasy. It could be anything or nothing. I'm hoping for nothing.

    I am using atavist in the loosely defined sense of being a throwback to simpler times, when a handshake was as good as a written contract, when you could leave the keys in your car and your house unlocked, and you could count on most people to be courteous and helpful.

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  6. Good points.
    The picture reminds me of one I saw of a Mallard in a deck chair sipping a mai-tai with sunglasses on and an umbrella over his head, and steadily getting closer along the wall beside him were bullet holes.
    I love the Constitution, and "the republic for which it stands" but I harbor no delusions that most of it has been dictated away by judges, eroded by legislative altruism and spiritualism, and what remains could be signed away tomorrow by idiots who value looking and feeling good above being right!
    There are many reasons to be concerned about what is going on in the world politically and religiously, with all the red flags that are flying, but none whatever for fear.
    Pray, plan and persevere, so as to never be exploitable, expendable plebescheithe.

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  7. yep, i just looked it up, and noted it as "throwback", so thanks for your extended explanation!

    cheers,
    pj

    p.s. i will add you to my links which are at my sub-blog - "The Blethering Place.

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