Monday, May 14, 2007

A Menagerie of Three

As I am an English major, I tend to read symbolism into situations that normal people would see as, well, normal. I like to think that this is due to a deeper insight that we English majors have of the world. In reality, it is probably just a form of insanity.
Over the past couple of weeks, I've had encounters with an odd assortment of animals at the high school where I work. No, I'm not referring in any way to my students. While there is not anything necessarily odd about these animals, it was odd to find them when and where I did.
The first encounter was with an extremely large bullfrog that was unfortunately taking its last breaths. I came across this amphibian as I was walking to the bus for my afternoon route. It was lying in the sun, barely breathing, and somewhat squashed. It was obvious to me that there was nothing to be done for the poor animal. I continued to my bus as the frog took in what I can only assume was its last taste of air on this earth.
A couple of days later I heard some female students screaming outside as they approached the door to the school. The morning bell that signals the beginning of the school day had just rung, and hundreds of students were taking their first steps of the day into the building. The girls who were screaming notified me and a couple of other teachers that there was a large moth in the doorway. I quickly went to the door to take a look, and just as they had said, there was a beautiful moth with wingspan about the length of my hand. After returning to my room to retrieve my empty Wizard of Oz lunch box (purely a decorative item), I rushed to the door to place the moth inside of the box. Luckily, the insect had managed to avoid being trampled on by groggy teenagers as they sleepily entered the school. After taking the moth to the science teachers so that they could take a look at it, I went outside to release it. As I opened the lid of the lunch box, the moth flew out and landed on the side of the building.
The final encounter happened just last week as I arrived at the school to start my obscenely early morning route. I was walking to my bus when I saw out of the corner of my eye two geese grazing in the grass (how about that alliteration). While this may not seem odd at first, it is necessary to know that there is no lake near the school. These two geese seemed to be lost from their flock, wandering around campus, wondering where they should head next.
Now, to the symbolism. After much thought, I found the following meaning in this strange menagerie:
1. The frog represents man at the end of his life, taking is last breath.
2. The moth represents the beauty of new birth, and even of re-birth, as the moth
was saved from imminent death by trampling. The moth is man at the beginning of
life.
3. The geese represent man on his journey through life, sometimes wandering
aimlessly as he tries to find his way.

As Tim Krason just made an assignment in his blog in which he asks his readers to write a haiku, I decided to sum up this experience using this form of poetry. Here goes. . .


Posted by Bradley Reid Freeny II :: 9:15 PM :: 1 comments

Post a Comment

---------------oOo---------------