Slice 98 of 364
Yesterday was about actual, physical holes. It’s amusing how many stories I had about that, I was surprised. Plus it was an avenue I hadn’t planned to go down at all but it was kind of fun.
Today is more about intangible holes. They are out there. They’re all over the place. Sometimes you can see them coming. Sometimes they just appear in the ground below you and swallow you whole.
These are earthly holes by the way, no black holes in space, although I suppose they could be related. And you may associate them with holes in the ground but that’s not always the case. You can get swallowed up anywhere.
Maybe you’ve been in your own hole, perhaps more than once. Or maybe you never have, more power to you if that’s the case. And my condolences if you feel like you’re always in one or going from one to another or in one right now.
You probably know people down holes and don’t realize it. It’s easy to not see or hear them.
If the hole isn’t too deep you might be able to climb out yourself. You might get lucky and somebody passing by sees your hands clutching at the top, trying to climb out and they grab ahold and tug you out. Most of the time at least, some people might stomp on your hands causing you to crash to the bottom again and then throw dirt back in at you.
The holes can get pretty darn deep where nobody hears you at all and the screams for help just reverberate off the walls and drive you mad until you stop. Then the silence catches up with you and the crazy starts.
You can create your own hole just to hide for a while too, just don’t make it too deep so you can get back out again. Holes can be created pretty much anywhere.
Some holes have water or fill with water after you’ve already tripped your way in. If you’re lucky you don’t have to tread water. You’d think that the sound of thunder in this case might be bad but actually if there’s enough rain it might just end up lifting you out.
You can inadvertently dig your own hole while you’re not paying any attention at all and suddenly there you are without that nice warm sunlight on your face and you have no idea what happened.
I still have lots of negative feelings towards my dad but I’m pretty sure he was down a hole and I never got that, not then at least. It’s very easy to not be understood when you’re down there and that varies with how deep you happen you to be.
There are a lot of people who don’t understand holes. My grandmother for instance. She was staying with my parents not long after 9/11. They were all watching some ceremony on TV and my dad had to leave the room. My stern, German grandmother told him he was unamerican for not watching.
What she had not considered, besides keeping her big fat trap shut, was that my dad was an electrician in the city and had worked on and in the World Trade Center. I was in the towers before they were finished when I was a boy.
He went down a hole. He called me from the hole. I think it was the only time I felt sorry for him.
It can be frustrating to make your way out of a hole, see level ground, travel for a while without incident and boom, another hole. You think you should have seen it this time but alas you didn’t.
So before you discount somebody for their odd, reclusive, or eccentric like behavior (among others) check around and see if you spot any holes. It’s a good bet there’s one right in front of you so watch your step and toss down a rope.
Chances are good that somebody might tug on it and if they don’t, tie the end of the rope to a tree and leave it there for later.
If their shoes happen to be at the top of the hole take a walk in them while you wait.
Until tomorrow…