It is an important and popular fact that things are not always what they seem. For instance, on the planet Earth, man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much--the wheel, New York, wars and so on--while all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man--for precisely the same reasons.
Curiously enough, the dolphins had long known of the impending destruction of the planet Earth and had made many attempts to alert mankind to the danger; but most of their communications were misinterpreted as amusing attempts to punch footballs or whistle for tidbits, so they eventually gave up and left the Earth by their own means shortly before the Vogons arrived.
The last ever dolphin message was misinterpreted as a surprisingly sophisticated attempt to do a double-backward somersault through a hoop while whistling the "Star-Spangled Banner," but in fact the message was this: So long and thanks for all the fish.
In fact there was only one species on the planet more intelligent than dolphins, and they spent a lot of their time in behavioral research laboratories running round inside wheels and conducting frighteningly elegant and subtle experiments on man. The fact that once again man completely misinterpreted this relationship was entirely according to these creatures' plans.
I am frequently accused of overthinking and over-worrying. I don't do well with off-the-cuff anything. My wife knows this. My kids know this. Heck, everybody who knows me also knows that I am a planner. List-maker. I like to create my own rules, not follow the rules of others. I don't have a dolphin mentality. If I have a day off, I begin thinking about what I can do on that day.
For example, I have a four-day weekend coming up because of Independence Day here in the United States. I've already decided that I'm going to clean my bathroom and mow my lawn tomorrow evening. Then I have a writing project that I need to complete by July 4th. On July 5th, I'm hoping to go on a hike to a waterfall and then take my family to see Toy Story 4. And that's before the real weekend even begins.
Perhaps I would be a happier person if I followed the lead of dolphins. Maybe they do have things all figured out. I mean, look at the mess human beings have made of the planet. Famine. Poverty. Hunger. Climate change. Wars. Donald Trump. We seem to excel at making huge mistakes that impact millions of people negatively and cause glaciers to melt. Dolphins don't do that.
Maybe I should have a dolphin evening. Instead of making the beds or scrubbing the toilet, I should make a pan of brownies and eat them. Or take my son for a long walk in the woods and hunt for Bigfoot. Or have a campfire in my backyard and fall asleep in a lawn chair. Perhaps being productive (a list-maker, day-planner) isn't all that it's cracked up to be.
My son doesn't plan out his days. Sure, he has an idea of what he's going to do when he gets up in the morning, but if I told him right now that I was going to take him swimming in Lake Superior, he'd be up out of his chair before I cold finish the sentence. I think humans are pretty much dolphins when they are kids. As we get older, we become less inclined simply to lounge around with nothing to do. I know I've become hard-wired toward accomplishment. A good day, for me, is when I have something to show for it. A new poem. A new blog post. A clean house. A finished book.
Tonight, I have to cook something for a potluck at work tomorrow. Beds to make. A writing project. Maybe I'll tackle the bathroom, as well. I need to do all that in the space of a couple hours. I have already set myself up for failure. I will never accomplish all of those tasks.
So, Saint Marty has once last thing to say tonight: "So long and thanks for all the M&Ms."
No comments:
Post a Comment