 | snakes and cockroaches: pesky problems? or, signs from god?
Blitzkriegs and Sieges.
We are daily bombarded with signs and symbols, many of which we use as portents to guide our lives. The world is chaos and humans continually search for patterns in the muck, stability in the mire. We happily (or, perhaps, desperately) look to religion, astrology, science, magic, miracles, fate, love, Tom Cruise, etc. to lift from our shoulders some of the heavy burden of responsibility and uncertainty that chaos engenders. For the majority of our existence, we cling to an illusion of order in the world---that the world is not chaos, that we have control over our destinies, that we even have "destinies", and that "what is meant to happen, will happen".
Magnets and Metal.
I don't really believe, believe this, but I, too, happily cling to these philosophies in order to protect my sanity and general mental health. That said, I prefer "to believe" in signs; signs that where I am headed in my life is indeed the right direction. I like to believe that if I listen and watch carefully, the universe will let me know where I am supposed to go and what I am supposed to do. I like to think that something in the center of the universe is pulling the very atoms of my being to my destiny...just like a big magnet and a piece of metal.
The Mechanics.
The first order of business when "believing" in signs is to recognize that a sign, in fact, has just been presented to you. The second order of business is to interpret that sign and apply it to your life.
Case Study (this is the interactive part).
Last night I was presented with two signs: a cockroach and a snake. The first prognostic landed (literally) with fury in my hair (which looked fantastic, by the way). It was my friend's birthday and we all were imbibing large quantities of alcohol in a resplendent display of our utter joy that our friend had been born and managed to successfully make it (through the muck and mire) to her 35th year of life. This sort of ritual---the birthday party--- I believe serves as a sort of "safety valve" for the community. It is a way to alleviate our collective anxiety over the uncertainties and the morass in which we live. We can all look and point at the birthday girl and say with a collective sigh, "Whew! If she can do it, then so can I! Tonight we eat, drink, dance, and be merry!" (And if we are lucky, we also get laid.)
Back to the first sign. The sign presented itself to me as it trekked through my lovely locks and as I crossed the boundary that separates the private from the public (otherwise known as a door). Was this element of timing on the cockroach's part yet another sign? I was uncertain. I thought at first that something only had brushed my hair (as some people cannot refrain from touching it when I'm not looking---I guess everyone has their objects of adoration. Take, for instance, the Virgen de Guadalupe or the Blarney Stone). It wasn't until I had already retrieved a beer from the cooler in the living room and made my way into the kitchen to chat with the birthday girl, that I understood the depth of this sign. No, really. It was no longer rambling on the outside of my hair; it instead had spelunked through the depths of my luxurious tresses and was now exploring the nape of my neck. At this point, I flung that sign onto the floor and before I could examine it more closely, the birthday girl had squashed it with her slipper-clad foot. The first prognostic was dead.
The second sign.
The second sign presented itself in as abrupt a manner as the first: it fell from above, just like pennies from heaven. The peculiar thing about this sign is that it is a shared omen. The context. Late into the night, I removed myself from the party in the company of a certain woman of whom I am quite fond. We walked around the street corner and planted ourselves on a bus stop bench under a standing of trees and a streetlight. This woman and I were engaged in an earnest and intimate conversation (the identity of the lady and the topic of our conversation will remain private--there are codes of conduct by which I live and a foundational tenet of these codes is to, at all cost, maintain a lady's honor--or, at least, the illusion of such. This means of comportment, by the way, also has a direct bearing on how much access one is granted to the lady for the tarnishing of said honor.) Moving along...
As I noted above, we were sitting on a bench and chatting. I do not remember exactly what was being said when the sign arrived, but it arrived with a plop. A small snake, silvery in the streetlight, fell from a tree branch and onto the sidewalk. This small, silvery snake was no more than six inches long. It slithered from its landing point toward the bushes, just to the right of us. I got up and tried to catch it. Why I did this, still remains a mystery to me. Ultimately, I was unsuccessful in my attempt. We both sat there and pondered on what just occurred. We were uncertain as to the meaning of this omen, but we both agreed that there must be a meaning to it. After all, a snake just fell from above and landed almost at our feet at a critical junction in the relationship between this woman and me.
This is your assignment: help me to unravel the meanings of these omens. What does it all mean? What are the cockroach and the snake trying to tell me? Which way is the universe trying to guide me? |
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