here we are again
the days of the long shadows
were we ever here?
Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
My wife and I try to walk around out in the neighborhood everyday, twice if the weather and my schedule work out.
It is an exercise regime that works with my outlook on physical exercise.
I have noticed that several times a year (it really should be only twice a year but the time change throws a curveball into the mix) the sun lines up low in the sky with a length of sidewalk and produces these long shadows.
From the picture, you can see we are some minutes or maybe a day or two away from the shadow lining up exactly with the sidewalk but you can’t count on sunny days even here in the low country of South Carolina so I thought I better grab the image while the grabbing was good.
I have, by the calendar, seen these shadows stretch out and line up about 16 times since we moved here.
The sidewalk is the same.
The street ahead is the same.
The shadows pretty much look the same thought the bulky of our clothes changes from early spring to late fall.
The sun is the same.
What has changed in the last four years?
Truly the more things change the more they stay the same.
With this in mind though, I agree with Delwin Brown, who in his 1994 book, Boundaries of Our Habitations: Tradition and Theological Construction, (State University of New York Press) wrote, “There must be some continuity with the past, “or else the world is a madhouse.” Hence, the more things change, the more they stay the same; the more things stay the same, the more they change.”
Full disclosure I am not familiar with this book but when I looked up the the saying to get the french spelling of Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose, I came across Mr. Brown’s quote in the lazy man’s best friend, Wikipedia.
I am reminded of snow.
If you grew in the western part of the State of Michigan in the back half of the 20th century like I did, you saw a lot of snow.
Early in your life, your learned from your Mom or your brothers or your sisters or your kindergarten teacher that NO TWO SNOWFLAKES are the same.
I put it to you that NO TWO OF ANYTHING are the same.
No two snowflakes.
No two days.
No two nothing.
But besides being different, all snowflakes are snowflakes.
They are all the same.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
The more things stay the same, the more they change.
Then again, there is the shadow.
Here and gone.
Dark and bold in its outline in bright sun and a cloud comes along and covers the sun and the shadow is gone.
Was it really there?
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
The more things stay the same, the more they change.
Maybe we weren’t really here in the first place.
Discover more from No Haiku For You
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
