LIfe Observations

To:Tom Woerner

 

‎Nov‎ ‎20 at ‎11‎:‎25

One of the requirements of a local columnist is to simply observe the things around us and offer our editorial comment, it just kind of what we do. Some times the things I observe are ordinary and pass through my mind without event but some get my mind to wondering.

For example, last night I noticed a cattle crossing sign on a Harnett County roard and I had to wonder just what those signs say about we as humans. 

This is particularly true when it comes to wild animals such as deer, or in the great north where my in-laws live, moose, which seem to torture local drivers this time of year.

Are we, as humans, arrogant enough to think we can control where wild animals cross the road? Once we pass the signs are we secure enough to let down our guard against antler carrying car insurance nightmares thinking our wild friends will respect the space we have reserved for them to cross?

I understand the idea of the signs, to provide general safety information in areas where it is more likely to see deer. But, especially during the season when our headlights freeze these living obstacles just long enough to plow into them, we should observe a constant level of alertness. Doing so may prevent a deer collision or something worse. 

Running into a large cow would certainly be more troublesome. 

Totally unrelated, but I have observed in close to 50 years now of putting on shoes each day there is an interesting phenomenon. The next time you tie your shoes notice that when you complete one shoe, the other is invariably noticeably looser. 

More times than not, tying one shoe is a sure enough way need to tie the other one. Don’t ask me to explain it, I report the news, that doesn’t necessarily mean I understand the reasons for it.

Anyone who knows me at all knows I am not a scientist or a mathemtician but I have noticed that at times the same number means different things. 

Common sense tells you that 69 degrees feels the same all year, right?

Explain then why in the summer that number “comfortably cool” while in January the same temperature is well below the comfort threshhold for many, sending them scrambling in their grandmother’s cedar chest to find a blanket.

 People who think nothing of putting their thermostat at that level in the summer, refuse to do so six months later for fear they might “freeze to death.”

Numbers also have a different perspective as we age. Again, 365 days a year is exactly the same amount of time when you are 2 as it is when you are 52. However, I realize as I approach that age how right my parents and grandparents were when they said life is short and that time moves faster as we grow older.

As a child Christmas “took forever” to come. In those days my brothers and I would spend days circling things with flourescent markers in the Sears and Roebuck Wishbook and dreading the long wait to see if Santa respected our wishes. 

Looking back I realize “Santa” did a pretty good job keeping the three of us happy on Christmas morning. This is my chance to publicly thank him.

Now, the Christmas boxes don’t seem to have time to gather on them before we are reaching for them again. First with children, and now grandchildren, my wife and I struggle to find enough time in the holiday season to at least try to help Santa fill out his list. The forever of our childhood seems to be the flash of a second in our adult professional and personal lives.

The 12 years it took to complete our school years now seem like the blink of an eye as we watch our children and grandchildren age. It is hard for me to even believe that my children’s have their own children who are approaching school age. Just another of those many things I don’t understand but I will keep reporting them and trying to comprehend.