Look Out!

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Signs, signs, everywhere’s a sign.

They are everywhere.  We just have to stand back and look around to see the bazillions of them.  Laws.  Signs.  The Order in the Court, I’ll tell you.  Order in the Court!

Don’t get me wrong, I am not complaining. I am the first one in the single file line, standing straight and tall,  when it comes to keeping things in order.  And in following the letter of the law…. and directions… and such.

You see, I don’t like chaos.  I don’t like surprises.   I am one of those people who love routine, and conformity to that routine. I like to have a place for everything… and everything in its place.   I feel snuggly with the predictable.  And predictable means “safe.”  Control.

But we all know “control” is a myth.  There is no beast.  Not really.  Not over much of anything.  Oh sure, we may be able to apply control to this or that.  In small measures, if we are lucky.
“I won’t eat any tomatoes with swiss cheese, and crunched up almonds, for one week.”
“I will walk 2 miles every day. One backward. One forward.  For a whole week.”
“I won’t gossip about Mabel Longenslacker for an entire month.”
Etc., etc., etc.,…. whatever it is… for your personal gig.

But when you hope for things… like… “I will keep my family safe from any hurt, illness, injury, or harm.”  We can try… but …..

Or… I won’t let a plane drop out of the sky and come crashing through the roof.  Oh sure.  We’d like it to be that way, but then a Cesna 208 lands right in the middle of  your kitchen sink.

Okay, I’m on a bit of a tangent here.  So… back to the beginning.  Law. Signs.  Order.

You know, most laws are a result of somebody being a brainless idiot, somewhere in the history of man.  Most warning labels, most signs, most design principles.  Yep.  Some Loopy Louie picked up his motorized lawnmower with both hands, while the blades were whirring.  He was going to trim the tops of his bushes.  Lost both his hands in the process.  And what now?  We have automatic shut-offs for our mowers, which can be a pain in the rear.  Not in the hands.

Or…heating pads that automatically turn off after 30 minutes.
Or… safety caps on medicine bottles. Warning labels on coffee cups.   And on and on.

Oh. But we need the guidance. We do.  Not everybody reads the owner’s manual, or the instruction book.  So we get safety switches and warning labels.

These aren’t new though. They have occurred naturally since the beginning of time. A rattle snake will give you fair warning by the shaky-shimmy-shaky of its little tale.  Bumble Bees are bright yellow.    The Black Widow has an hourglass painted on her back….. Now THAT  ought to tell you something.  Open flames feel hot when you near them.  It goes on.

So then.  When it comes to our emotions, our spirit, our essence… why is it sometimes so hard to see the signs?   We look for guidance.  We read our horoscopes. We ask for advice.  We go to see the psychic dude.  So.  Why can’t we see the signs?  Why do we miss them, when so many around us can see them as plain as day?

I think, it is because we stand too close.

Tonight. I was trying to shoot a flower, really close.  My camera couldn’t catch focus, no matter how hard I tried.  Even manually.  But then, I took a big step back.  And everything came into focus beautifully.

When we can’t see,  sometimes, we just might need to change our vantage point, to change our perspective.  To try and look at things from a different angle.  To take a big step back, so we can see the bigger picture.
And it all comes into focus.