You know the adage, "Oil and water do not mix very well.", or some variation thereof. It's an obvious fact to a cook who has a recipe that says to take one cup of water, add 1/2 cup of cooking oil, and two eggs (beaten) and mix well. If you start with the water and oil and trying beating or whisking them together, you may think you see blending but after a second or two of the cessation of movement, little bubbles of oil will begin to meld back together and float to the top of the liquid. When the third 'agent', i.e. the eggs, are added to the mix then the liquid has an ingredient that can, indeed, stay blended together.
If I wanted to take this example of oil and water to an extreme level of fanciful, I could use the analogy of washing my clothes in the washing machine then drying them without the aid of a fabric softener sheet. Without the aid of a fabric softener sheet, the combination of the dryer's interior configuration, the wet clothes, and heat will result in very wrinkled clothes when dry. However, if I add a fabric softener sheet, whatever 'stuff' (I do not wish to know what the 'stuff' really is.) is on the sheet coats the clothes and helps to prevent wrinkles from forming.
So what can the 'egg' be for our society, our lives......whatever oil and vinegar situations we find ourselves in? What action, what words, even what punishment can we construct that will act as a societal fabric-softener sheet to help smooth out the wrinkles and help to mitigate the effects of agitation and high heat? Can we logically overcome the ideological differences between the 'left' and the 'right', the generational-needs differences between the old and the young, the passionate-belief differences between the proponents of round-a-bouts versus traffic lights at intersections, or the self-proclaimed zealots for Dunkin' Doughnuts coffee versus Starbucks coffee? No matter the topic, there will always be 'sides' in any discussion. Heavens, my dad and I were never able to agree on white versus yellow popcorn or the perfect degree of the ripeness of bananas. My mom and I were never able to agree on how to make a bed......and these were trivial topics in relation to the real matters of concern hanging over our human heads today.
I do not have any earth-shattering recommendations for what makes the perfect 'fabric-softener sheet' for the calming of the fabric of our lives and society today. I have some personal suspicions and preferences but that is just what they are: personal. It seems that everywhere I turn, from politics to church to our schools to family matters, fabric-softener sheets are needed......and in large amounts.
On the other hand, using the egg as the example of a substance that can bind other substances together, the egg industry does advertise it as, "The incredible, edible egg."
Both the fabric-softener sheet and eggs are readily available at your local supermarket or corner store. Let's all stock up. It's the Year-of-the-Lemon.
Ancora imparo
