| | They say it was the straw that broke the camels back,
but I say it was the entire haystack.
Who do you think is to blame?
While we are on the subject of big changes like broken backs, how about another change:
Finding a needle. And where else would one look for a needle but in a haystack?
In the story I am telling, someone was trying to find a needle. A needle of great and possibly infinite worth (not to mention beauty and durability). Maybe that someone was the camel; or if not, that person owned the camel. Whichever, it doesn't change the point of the story... much.
Day in and day out straws were inspected individually and placed on the camels back to eventually haul it away.
But if the camel were to leave the haystack and alleviate its load the search would be delayed.
Each new day was not a new beginning in the search, but a continuation of the day before. The weight was never lifted, and the camel was never given rest as the burdensome load grew, milligram by torturous milligram the longer it stayed.
And then one day the unavoidable (?) finally happened.
Snap!
Again I ask: Who do you think is to blame?
In an alternate universe the same task is being undertaken. However, there is a change in plans. The searcher has not only a camel (or if the searcher and the camel are one, its own back) at its disposal, but a match. In short, this one is looking at a needle, a haystack, a match, a camel(back), and a plan.
The plan is rather simple: to strike the match and spare the camel(back).
I have mixed metaphors in this story very liberally, and maybe I have coined a new one "a needle, a haystack, a match, a plan."
But what in blue blazes am I talking about? Am I making a point with all this nonsense?
Am I talking about the assignment of blame? You see, the difference between a camel searching or a camels owner searching really does change the overall tilt of the story and who is to blame. Am I talking about triage? Burning the straws to get to the needle? Or maybe forgiveness, is that what I am talking about? Relieving the camel of it's terminal haystack is -in a way- forgiving it, reversing its fate. How about patience? Is that what I mean? How is patience related to forgiveness? In the first story, just a little patience in the urgent search for the needle would have spared the camel. Being patient with the weaknesses of others is forgiveness in a very real way.
All these mixed metaphors are meant to say:
when searching for a needle in a stack of hay
a camels back is an unnecessary price to pay.
One question... do camels eat hay? If so, this entire thing has been about beating a horse to death with a carrot... to bring in one or two more metaphors.
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| | Posted 1/19/2009 8:25 PM - 54 Views - 8 eProps - 7 comments
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