So, yesterday....

Yesterday, I was wandering through a drug store. They have nearly everything in drug stores these days, including "SIX CUP MELITTA COFFEE MAKERS" that, for some reason, are used to camouflage 4 cup Melitta filter holders on top of small glass coffee pots, and I *already have* a 4 cup... never mind, let's not indulge my private griefs.

But they also had a one pound package of Blue Diamond roasted, salted almonds.

There's a problem with these bags. Sometimes, you open them up and you have wonderful, well-salted, tasty almonds. And sometimes you open them, and get some bland, saltless almonds that you think about throwing away, but end up eating, handful by handful, so as not to waste the money you spent.

And I realized that this is a metaphor for life, isn't it? So many times, you must expend resources, just to take a chance, a wild, frivolous, yet potentially rewarding chance, never knowing, until you rip through all barriers, if the chance was worthwhile or not. There is no shortcut, no way of avoiding the risk; police tend to respond swiftly when called on a 7319 (which is police code for "there's a long-haired weirdo doing strange things to bags of almonds" - next to "person taking pictures of famous landmarks", this is one of the top terrorism threats in the nation today!). No, you must take the risk, you must take the gamble, you must lay it all on the line, and see... was it worthwhile, or not?

And just like with life, I'm not going to tell you about the almonds themselves. For is not the life of others hidden from us? Do we not live our lives unaware of millions of joys and horrors? Do we not treasure the joys that are shared, the pains we can comfort, because we are aware of our inability to know either, in large part?

No... the result of this great symbolic seizing of life must be kept hidden, or it would be valueless.

But if anyone wants some almonds, before they run out, I'll be glad to share.

So, yesterday....

Yesterday, I was wandering through a drug store. They have nearly everything in drug stores these days, including "SIX CUP MELITTA COFFEE MAKERS" that, for some reason, are used to camouflage 4 cup Melitta filter holders on top of small glass coffee pots, and I *already have* a 4 cup... never mind, let's not indulge my private griefs.

But they also had a one pound package of Blue Diamond roasted, salted almonds.

There's a problem with these bags. Sometimes, you open them up and you have wonderful, well-salted, tasty almonds. And sometimes you open them, and get some bland, saltless almonds that you think about throwing away, but end up eating, handful by handful, so as not to waste the money you spent.

And I realized that this is a metaphor for life, isn't it? So many times, you must expend resources, just to take a chance, a wild, frivolous, yet potentially rewarding chance, never knowing, until you rip through all barriers, if the chance was worthwhile or not. There is no shortcut, no way of avoiding the risk; police tend to respond swiftly when called on a 7319 (which is police code for "there's a long-haired weirdo doing strange things to bags of almonds" - next to "person taking pictures of famous landmarks", this is one of the top terrorism threats in the nation today!). No, you must take the risk, you must take the gamble, you must lay it all on the line, and see... was it worthwhile, or not?

And just like with life, I'm not going to tell you about the almonds themselves. For is not the life of others hidden from us? Do we not live our lives unaware of millions of joys and horrors? Do we not treasure the joys that are shared, the pains we can comfort, because we are aware of our inability to know either, in large part?

No... the result of this great symbolic seizing of life must be kept hidden, or it would be valueless.

But if anyone wants some almonds, before they run out, I'll be glad to share.