reali-tea

an email from my bro

Start with a cage containing five monkeys.

Inside the cage, hang a banana on a string and place a set of stairs under it. Before long, a monkey will go to the stairs and start to climb towards the banana. As soon as he touches the stairs, spray all of the other monkeys with cold water.

After a while, another monkey makes an attempt with the same result - all the other monkeys are sprayed with cold water. Pretty soon, when another monkey tries to climb the stairs, the other monkeys will try to prevent it.

Now, put away the cold water. Remove one monkey from the cage and replace it with a new one. The new monkey sees the banana and wants to climb the stairs. To his surprise and horror, all of the other monkeys attack him.

After another attempt and attack, he knows that if he tries to climb the stairs, he will be assaulted.

Next, remove another of the original five monkeys and replace it with a new one. The newcomer goes to the stairs and is attacked. The previous newcomer takes part in the punishment with enthusiasm! Likewise, replace a third original monkey with a new one, then a fourth, then the fifth. Every time the newest monkey takes to the stairs, he is attacked.

Most of the monkeys that are beating him have no idea why they were not permitted to climb the stairs or why they are participating in the beating of the newest monkey.

After replacing all the original monkeys, none of the remaining monkeys have ever been sprayed with cold water. Nevertheless, no monkey ever again approaches the stairs to try for the banana. Why not? Because as far as they know that’s the way it’s always been done round here.

And that, my friends, is how company policies are made.

I propose a new theory

It is said that every action has an equal and opposite reaction: the first law of motion. So how does friction fit into all of this, because wouldn’t it be like a combination of two laws?

Obviously it starts with an action of an object, so we can’t ignore the fact that there is a reaction as well. If there truly is an equal and opposite reaction, then the friction comes from the other object’s moving equally against the primary object’s force of action. Take a pencil for example: if you are trying to erase something, the friction includes the eraser moving one way, and the paper putting on the equal and opposite force. So you might say that the paper would be moving back and forth against the eraser, or at least has the force equivalent to doing so. Now, because there is such a thing called gravity which puts force on the paper to stay on the table- or whatever it may be resting on- the paper and the table are theoretically a single unit. And provided there is sufficient force keeping the paper attached to the table- your hand, perhaps- then the table becomes part of the force which the paper is now acting against the eraser. As long as gravity remains intact, the force that has made the paper and table a single unit is also affecting the table and whatever the table may be resting on, and continues on to the center of the earth which is the center of gravity. If this is the case, then the earth is also putting an equal and opposite force against the eraser.

So, you might think of it this way: Since the earth, the table, and the paper which are all connected by gravity are putting the same amount of opposing force on the eraser, why can’t we say that the earth, the paper, and everything in between is erasing the pencil?

05/365

twotwistedlovers:

Today

a bird pooped on my jeans

and it’s really not as pleasant as it seems

so now I will have to wash

eight times a day

because really, bird,

that was not okay.

haha, hilarious. this happened to me once too.

guise~

sammeatsbrains:

i’m a total loser and have 97 followers.
i freaked out when i realized i almost had 100.
then my best friend says she almost has 700….
</3

That’s ok, i only have 34.

Recognizing the Revelatory Detail

I have recently discovered that revelation is not only shocking, it is simplistic. In most cases, a revelation comes from preconceived details and is often overlooked because the details seem too obvious. But usually, it will be the very first thing you notice; so pay attention. 

 I watched a woman for a total of twenty seconds: the ten seconds she took walking into starbucks and the ten seconds walking back to her car. I was sitting at the window seat facing the parking lot. I first noticed her as she hustled between two cars separated by a single, muddy parking space line. Her head was down surveying the filthy mine field of mud and ice dropped by numerous cars occupying the spaces since early morning. Despite the difficulty, her stride did not change as she traipsed her way toward the door. Once outside of the minefield she looked up to allow her straight, blond hair to fall away from her eyes. Her gait did not slow even as she stepped up onto the curb and a blast of steam came pouring from her lips: breath vapor. 

 I almost passed it off, but suddenly I realized that that single breath meant something…something important. What was it? Frustration? Maybe. Exhaustion? No, she was walking too quickly for that. It was then that I noticed her eyes? They were pointed down as if in thought while her eyebrows betrayed an heir of annoyance, perhaps. So maybe she was frustrated or annoyed. Maybe it had been a long day. By all appearances, she seemed to have been recently at work if not still on the job. Yes, it was her clothes that gave her away: brown pin-stripe plaid pants, classy sweater, a scarf intended as part of her outfit, necklace, straightened hair, no extra winter clothes which suggests an inside job or a job that does not do any running. Perhaps a desk job? Possibly retail, but recently, retail had slowed. I took the liberty to assume business woman. It wasn’t until I made this assumption that the blast of steam suddenly made sense and fit the missing parts together. In essence it was a sigh a relief: no matter how hard her day was or continued to be, this woman found comfort in the familiarity of coffee and Starbucks. It was an oasis of relaxation amidst the struggles and frustrations of an imperfect job. 

 My mind was occupied by these thoughts as she made the last three steps to the door. She was about five minutes in the store and then I watched that familiar stride retrace its steps out the door, through the mine field, and back to the reality that existed within her silver 2011 Toyota sedan. Twenty minutes of sitting in her car talking on the phone only helped to solidify the possibility that perhaps she was still on the job. Then without warning, she backed her car out with the same gait and frustration I had seen in her stride. And then she was gone. 

 Of those twenty seconds, the first five seconds were the most revelatory. But not until after she was gone did I understand the irony of that blast of steam. Regardless of her job or way of life, I had discovered a hard worker; a woman who was not lazy and understood the importance of hard work in spite of the difficulties she may face. Just like any person, she appreciated a break. Starbucks was her getaway and the answer to what made her hard work worth it all. It was her hard work that paid for that break, and nothing is more satisfying than seeing hard work pay off, even if only in the small luxury of a cup of coffee.

 

(writing exercise from page 27 of Sherry Ellis’ book, “Now Write: Nonfiction”)