Listening to NPR this morning on my way in, and Garrison Keillor comes on with 'The Writer's Almanac' and I'm casually listening to it. More paying attention to the sides of the road as they roll by so I'll, hopefully, miss any critters that are thinking about committing suicide. The poem for today was about looking at a lizard by an author who titled their book "Shaping Water." It wasn't the poem that got me thinking - it was the title of the book.
When you think about it, the only way to shape water is to alter its environment, or to indirectly affect it. You can freeze it and shape it; you can heat it and create steam, then direct the steam into different shapes; you can change geography and redirect it into streams, falls, ponds and lakes. But try to take it in your hands and physically change its shape and it will slip through your fingers. It is an entity unto itself and will not be shaped by your hand. You can force it to go where you want. You can turn it into a pond, a stream or waterfall. You can make it flow fast or barely trickle. But no matter what you do, you can only change the shape of the geography or container - you cannot change the shape of the water itself. Try to hold it in your hand at any time and it will still slip through.
A bit like life, no?
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