SUBTLE NOW, BOLD LATER

You may be familiar with the well known concept about boiling a frog in a pot of water. There's a smart way to go about it (not that you have any such intention, of course). If you place a frog in a pot of boiling water it will immediately hop right out if possible. I mean, come on...it's flippin' hot. However, place that same frog in some nice cool water, and gradually increase the temperature to a boil, and that sucker will just continue to park off right there and eventually boil to death. What's the moral of the story then? The danger, as it relates to the frog, lies in the threat of subtlety and stealth.

A couple of nights ago I was working at my desk during a night of heavy rainfall, and without warning one entire wall started leaking. I mean, the whole wall. Water came streaming down virtually every part of it. The cause, as I was to find out from my landlord the next morning, was a gradual accumulation of leaves in the roof gutters that were allowed to pile up to their heart's content. There was no harm during the piling up process. No warning of impending doom. They just lazily added to their number day in, day out, until just enough time had passed and the right (or wrong) circumstances came along. And then, seemingly out of nowhere, I'm almost snorkeling indoors.

That's the thing with the incremental and the subtle. They attract potentially damaging conditions with hardly any effort at all. Calamity waiting to happen is often the bosom buddy of the gradual and the ignored. It's the kind of threat that doesn't announce itself on loudspeaker or make any huge fuss, but give that puppy enough time to do its thing unchecked behind the scenes, and your ass be cruisin' for a bruisin'. It is the power of repetition, and it dishes out consequences for good or for bad. It's an odd thing, however, that the dark side of the coin requires no effort. All it asks for is to be ignored, and it is perfectly capable of cultivating hazard all on its own. Think of a garden left untended. Or what about a body that's not exercised? What about that unhealthy little habit that is never acknowledged and dealt with? Yep, do nothing, and degradation will often take care of itself.

Not so with the light side of the coin, in many cases. It's true that repetition carries powerful consequences for good as well, but these are consequences that often only come about as a result of deliberate and sustained action on our part. Few good things that require time ever happen on their own. They require the mind and hands of a creator who wills and acts them into reality. A garden must be cultivated. An investment must be managed. An exercise plan must be followed.

What seemingly harmless and unhealthy habit are you allowing free reign in your life because the consequences simply appear too petty to fuss over...for now? What good thing are you neglecting because the result of ignoring it just isn't worth worrying about...for now? Are you planting life-sustaining crops or suffocating weeds? In either case, a harvest is on the way. It's just a matter of time.
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Grant Alexander Cyster owns the blog entitled "I THINK, THEREFORE I ACHE.", offered as part of his Cape Town based freelance media business at: www.grantcyster.com