Friday, November 16, 2012

Bit by Bit - Chapter 3, Part 1

Trey Smith


Your life has a limit, but knowledge has none.
~ Burton Watson translation ~
I can remember as a child being captivated by fireflies (also called lightening bugs). They seemed to fill the air in summer where I lived in the Midwest. They would flit to and fro -- the essence of freedom.

Like a lot of kids, I wanted to catch a few so I could marvel at them at my leisure. The snare was a glass jar and, being the humane folks we thought we were, holes were poked into the metal lid so the fireflies wouldn't suffocate. And so my friends and I would catch several fireflies in jars.

But a funny thing happened to our captured prey. They'd flit around in our jars for a short period of time -- flashing their "lights" -- and then nothing. No flying. No lighting. Nada.

It was my first lesson in the folly of trying to constrain the unconstrainable. By placing limits on the fireflies, I killed them.

To view the Index page for this series, go here.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Comments are unmoderated, so you can write whatever you want.