Forks and Cliffs January 24th, 2010
They aren’t easy to find today, the words.
The imagery of a fork in the road implies choices of equal parity. Go left, or go right. Stop and think about it first, if you must. A precipice also comes with two choices. Step back or jump off. The terror and anxiety of that situation is far beyond that of any road journey, but mechanically they are the same. Two choices. Pick one. Take your time.
The metaphor breaks down when you look at reversibility and interference. If you take the wrong road, you can go back and go the other way. If you step back from a precipice instead of jumping, you could always jump later; but if you jump, that’s it. There’s no going back. Also, someone can push you off of a cliff in a burst of action. It’s much harder to force someone down a road and keep them there.
A sheer drop disguised as a fork in the road would be a treacherous thing indeed. Just putting a foot one direction to try it out can result in free fall. By the time you’ve recognized the situation, you are hitting the rocks below.
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Is there a basic human need to create crisis? Do people need catastrophe to properly frame the good times?
Humanity is a factory that only manufactures disappointments.
