Today’s story is about bacteria, bending, breaking, adapting and the inertia of all existence (and New Years Resolutions of course). WOW, that’s deep. Well, if you look at the photo above, you’ll see that it is, indeed, deep and due to get deeper. What a great posting, eh: three sentences into it (four now), and you have no idea yet what my message is. Might as well keep going, then (nothing to lose).
They (whoever they are) say that success in survival is not really determined by survival of the fittest. More accurately, successful survival, personal safety and prosperity is based on the ability and willingness to adapt to changing conditions. Think flexibility or the ability to be flexible. Bacteria, mold, fungus and viruses are superb at this. If a bacteria can do it, seems to me that a somewhat higher life form, perhaps even a human, could do it as well.
I wonder if a mold spore could even begin to grasp the concepts of stubbornness, procrastination, I was here first, it’s my right, I’m too busy, I’m late, you’re in my way, I hate the cold, I hate the hot, I want to wear my pajama bottoms to drive to the store even though it’s freezing cold out, yes I know I need to walk more carefully but I don’t want to look like an old man, I always take this route to work, I’ll look like a dork if I do that, do you know how long that would take to do, this is how I’ve always done it, that’ll mean going backwards a bit, that’ll mean giving in. Y’know, I’ll bet that the mold spore would have trouble with those concepts even if we showed it a colorful PowerPoint slide program, passed a law forcing it to understand or put up some new signs directing it.
Obviously the mold spore (we’ll call it Mo for now), being such a lower form of life, just can’t think through these advanced ideas. All Mo seems to know is: if my environment changes and there is nothing I can do to fix that, then I’ll have to adapt or perish and I’d better just get started now. Actually, Mo is just a spore, and so the thought pattern is probably more like: change exist, me change now too.
That’s a pretty simple thought for a pretty simple organism.
It’s been very windy around here this past couple of months. Watching the trees bend with the wind reminded me that we (the high life forms) have developed lots of much more complex phrases and ideas to remind us of what Mo already knows. They follow along the lines of: bend but not break, go with the flow, a stitch in time saves nine, nothing is as constant as change, enjoyment comes from the ride and not necessarily the destination, you have to give and give in order to win the game, and win the battle but lose the war. And then, of course, the prayer that ends with knowing the difference between what we can change and what we can’t.
When I’m not busy looking for a new job I have a bit of time to look around at the world in motion. Have you noticed the world in motion? It’s everywhere. It’s the inertia of everything there is. I’m sitting at the tire store waiting for my oil change, and around me I see people walking in and out of the door, cars zipping down M-37 in both directions, the trees blowing, snow falling, clerks picking up the phone, the second hand on my watch sweeping, the sky dimming because the earth is rotating and the battery indicator on my computer falling, just to name a few. I’m thinking that there is no way that I can ever hope to press against this constant inertia of everything and end up winning my own war. I’m going to yield to what is and go with the flow.
Remember the photo of those snow covered cones at the top of the page (a thousand words ago)? Those are there to protect kids in an area near one of the local elementary schools. They’re still there, even though the snow is covering most of them. Yet, I know full well that some drivers will use the fact that these lame traffic control devices are obscured as an excuse to ignore them and zip through or park wherever. Actually, they’ll ignore many if other warning signs of their changed environment and just press on against what is. Somewhere today that pressure being exerted against the immovable force of what is will surely injure someone needlessly.
It’s a good time to remember (yep, it’s resolution time) that many, if not most, accidental injuries are predictable and preventable. Let’s resolve to prevent some of the injuries that could befall our families this year by bending a bit to the predictable force or what is.
Be safe.
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