Philosophical anecdote…
I remember last summer that it was fiercely hot in August, right about the time that Bellefonte has a craft and arts fair. Like a low-rent response to Arts Fest in State College…mostly consisting of street vendors with wickedly unhealthy foodstuffs. My mother came down for this event and decided that, more than art, she needed a cinnamon roll the size of a small child. So, we walked about for like an hour or two, sweating profusely in the 90º weather, wanting to die before she felt that she had earned her icing smothered treat. Roll in hand, we made our way back up to my apartment. Somewhere along our journey, though, we acquired a passenger – a very small bee/hornet thing. You know, one of those irritating little hovering bastards that spend their time annoying people and flocking around trash cans at carnivals and the like? Yeah…that’s what followed us into my apartment. He swarmed around the table, trying desperately to get to the sugary pastry while we picked and prodded at it. When we finished, my mom decided that we should let him land on the remnants and then close him in the clear plastic container. Entombed as he was, he made no effort at all to flee because of the ridiculous amounts of sweetness in which he now found himself. We tossed the sticky storage bin into the trash and left, no doubt on our way to Wegman’s and Target, but the whole time I kept thinking about this insect. He was both happy as could be in a veritable promised land and careening towards a painful end as the air in his chamber changed to poison. Would he live out his short life span happily consuming what was given to him and never have to know the reality of his situation? Or would he asphyxiate on his own waste and pay the price for being so single-minded?
I’m sure this is a perfect metaphor for something, but I really don’t know to what it would be best applied. I guess the story fits a lot of the situations in my world these days so I suppose that’s what’s brought it back to the forefront of my mind. In any case…