Sunday, August 23, 2015

Water Web


Among the rotting pilings near the Ocean Gateway terminal, there is life. A couple of itsy bitsy spiders are making a claim and calling it home. Can spiders be happy and contented? Who knows. They probably are. Our lives are certainly like spiders' webs. Pretty fragile. Coming into this world and leaving it, most of us have little control. How and where it ends, we have little play in it. Will we live to 100, if we really want that lot, or will the thread be cut short suddenly? The other morning on the Tappan Zee Bridge, a box truck crossed three lanes of fast-moving traffic hitting a pickup and another box truck on the way, catapulted over a barrier and got tossed in the pathway of an barreling 18 wheeler. The driver 33 and his passenger 20 both killed. The cause has yet to be determined. Falling asleep at the wheel? Vehicle malfunction? Driver inattentiveness? Does it really matter at this point. Two lives taken early. When they awoke and headed off to work, did they have any inkling that their lives would be cut short soon? Doubt it. We all doubt it.
See, we are but dangling on those thin webs of life.
Moving ever so slightly in the wind.
Looking so simple.
Yet so complex.
Not knowing when...

19 comments:

  1. For that reason alone, I probably should have my margarita in the morning.

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  2. But, seriously, it was the worst accident I've ever driven by....I still cannot stop thinking about it. Very sad.

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  3. You got that right. Life can be snatched away in an instant. When I lived in Houston I remember a newspaper story about a flywheel on an engine that came off for some reason on a freeway and bounced across the freeway right through the windshield of an incoming car and killed the driver. Dude never knew what him. Here one instant, gone the next.

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  4. I think pretty much the same thing whenever I hear of accidents like you describe.

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  5. You are being very philosophical today. I sincerely hope that I do not have an appointment in Samara anytime soon. Occasionally I think of that Maugham short story when I am out and about. . . usually on some form of transportation. Your spiderweb analogy also reminds me of Charlotte's Web.

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  6. Profound and so well written. I often think of just how fragile life is.

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  7. Hmmmm. Ok but now I'm feeling blue...

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  8. Spiders by the sea? This is something new for me...

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  9. What a sad story of the two young people. Yes, you never know when or where....

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  10. a rather sobering post, but a good reminder, too.

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  11. Very philosophical today, Mr. Birdman. Coming across that accident must have shaken Elenka and you. So sorry . . .

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  12. Beautiful shot! Quite a contrast to the tragedy.

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  13. Indeed, water attracts life. Indeed, we never fully know what is in store for each day. As I look at that water in your photo, I see profiles of people's faces.

    Janis
    GDP

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  14. beautiful photo...such a tragic story...you just never know :(

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  15. They probably score a lot of insect meals that way.

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  16. Amazing how spiders can build a beautiful perfect web almost anywhere. Great pic.

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  17. Looks to me like this spider is either 1. One to be avoided or 2. Very optimistic if this is his fishing net. They are making bullet proof vests out of spider web type of material. Can you see a miniture JAWS in there?

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