The Rat Maze

by Professor Wert, ©2023  

(Feb. 5, 2023) — “The Love Song of Kangding” (3:08)

Once upon a time there was a rat colony that lived in a large box. The outside walls of the box were painted as a seascape, so the rats thought they lived on an island. Some of the spaces had squares of sod while others were laid bare. The rat’s ‘island’ was in a garage that had a few bare windows so the rats could tell the time by the movement of the shadows.

Days went by and the days became weeks. Weeks went by and the weeks became months. Months went by and then one day the rats looked up and saw a white balloon floating above them.

“What in the tarnation do you think it’s doing floating above us?” some asked, while others didn’t pay it any mind.

The anxiety meter increased exponentially, as did the antacid ingestion.

The colony became divided. One faction recommended forming a committee to study the feasibility to somehow take the floating object down. The other faction recommended continued overlooking the white object floating above. Their battle cry was, ‘Forget it!’

Seconds ticked by and became hours. Hours ticked by and became days. Days ticked by and eventually everyone lost interest and became bored with the whole show. Nothing was happening except the white object was slowly moving to the east.

The rats became complacent, and we know this because their antacid intake once again became normal.

Now the monitors of the floating object took great interest in how the rats behaved. They decided that the rats didn’t actually do anything except either talk it to death or not talk it to death (enforced ‘not talking’ about the white floating object above them).

And that’s all there is to the story. You can take away this, though: inaction is an action*.

[*Inaction is an action: the philosophy of Bruce Lee: become the water. Bruce Lee wouldn’t want any balloon floating above him.]

“China Nights” (2:56)

Professor Wert