Episode 9: Part 2 of “The Tools of Peers”
While Alex was reading (pause for clarity) the Irishman
(see, if you didn’t pause you might think that Alex was reading the Irishman)
had floated to shore and disappeared over the horizon.
Alex admired the Irishman (to some degree) but
appreciated him more for the books introduced.
Books were tools.
Somewhat later, after Alex had floated to nearby shore
and disappeared over the horizon, “others” appeared.
Not the “Others” that you will find in those liberal
Anthropology and Political Science texts.
No, these others were not victims
of someone else’s imagination.
They were real honest to goodness flesh and blood,
and fur and fins and antlers “others.”
There was the beaver whose fine work;
was done meticulously. The product
of his labors, great dams and homes,
could withstand severe conditions
(which was totally unexpected).
and the rigors of time
(which was expected).
There, also, was the fish whose acuity to the political
ebb and flow allowed him to avoid being
dashed on the coral reefs. The fish was
one of many in that school of thought.
They watched each other closely,
and made their decisions based
on each other’s movements.
There was not a creative fish in the whole school.
There was not a nascent idea between
the lot of them; but they survived.
Finally there was the moose whose antlers were certainly unique.
This comment is not meant to minimize the length of his legs
or the breadth of his hooves. The legs and hooves were like
that of the camel. The legs carried him swiftly
and the wide hooves kept him from sinking in
the mucky bottoms of the ponds he fed in.
His unique tools (antlers) allowed him
to harvest water vegetation
from the bottom.
The only trouble was that half of the time he had
his head under water and could not see a thing.
This petrified him because he never knew
where his enemies were.
These were
the tools that
Alex adopted;
the Irishman’s books,
the beavers great industry,
the fish’s acute political adeptness,
and, of course, the moose’s flexible adaptability.
These were the tools of Alex’s peers.
