Where some streets intersect, a traffic light has enough height to catch attention.
Traffic nomenclature takes us from traffic light to stoplight.
The red part — somehow at the top — gets the most recognition, the name. Stop.
Still this writing will not become a telegraph or a cable. Stop.
No historical semaphore, spanning centuries, is able to signal here.
If one can’t see the signal, even the origin of the signal built for the railway and adopted by the highway or the byway or intersecting street, nothing is signaled.
This signal requires its environment be optical.
In contrast, an auditory signal, a trolley car ringing a bell, for instance, means a bell has been installed on the trolley to be rung as a public announcement of the trolley: this is a bell ringing from this trolley: ding-ding.
That’s it.
We decide and make associations of what the bell “means.” The hearing, but un-seeing, public can be informed what the ringing bell signifies: a bell ringing from a trolley is simply a public announcement of the trolley. Nothing more.
Nowadays, a hard boiled egg can be unboiled. That isn’t to say “not boiled.”
And, in this instance, it’s all about protein(s). And the signal of “where will you get your protein?” gets a response similar to “ask cancer where it gets its protein.”
And finally, you may ask me, “why even post this craziness?” And although no one will ask, as no one reads any of this “old school” internet type stuff anymore, “Why would you think any of this would be important to anyone? You’re not exactly cogent, so how do you expect anyone to “get it?”
I may respond: ” It’s really something I’m trying to do for myself. I want my thoughts or my writing to be cogent, viable, to mean something, but that doesn’t always happen. If someone else reads this and gets something out of it, even slight amusement, that’s okay, I guess. I know I’m not putting much effort into what I’m doing — every post I put out isn’t great, isn’t golden, and maybe none of the posts deserve to be in a sentence with the word(s) average or good. Most posts, like this post, won’t get a revision or any editing or even a read through by the author, but I’m pushing some buttons and that seems to be enough for me right now. I guess, again, that pushing the button more and more will eventually signal to me that I can walk or that the elevator is here or something I think is important has occurred, and I can stop pushing the buttons for a while” . . . . or I may say, ” I want to be better at understanding the signals that provide me with better living and a better life. Recognition and interpretation of the signals I’m sending and receiving may not always be in alignment with reality or what many of us believe reality should be. A signal, maybe an advertisement, isn’t what I need to pick up on or try to process. It’s unlikely the advertiser won’t try to manipulate me into monetizing its endeavors. It’s also unlikely that I’ll wake up from this manufactured reality, but I sometimes think there’s a chance. And, in that thought, there is the chance, there is the possibility, with the effort or work or time, the signal will be one of relevance. I’ll still need guidance to make it so. I’ll still need the connection that stems from gratitude. I’ll still wonder about alignment as these thoughts circle around to a chance, a possibility.