The cardboard wolf
It was early morning and I was out for a walk to center myself before a busy day with the kids. I couldn’t decide whether to walk by the lake and stroll in the woods, feeling real earth beneath my legs and soaking in the gnarled branches and green growth and birdsong, or to walk the paved sidewalk to the pretty park with the shipped-in sand and lovely man-made lake frequented by mallards, geese and lilypads. I decided the forest was more frightening and earthy and I wanted to get connected with what’s under our sanitized version of life – because I easily disconnect from life – and I began walking toward the lake, proud of my resolved. I noticed a wolf. It was very still and looked like it could be either fake or real. It could eat me, or it could be something bought at a party store made out of recycled cardboard. I told a little walking her dog about the wolf. At first she couldn’t see it. I think she thought I was crazy. I began to wonder if I’d finally lost it and was seeing things, like actual hallucinations. Finally the lady saw it too. I was leaning toward thinking the creature walk fake, but the lady said, “It looks real.” Her attitude was, let’s go look and see what it is. I said, “I don’t think I want to do that, I’m gonna walk this way.” And walk away I did, keeping an eye out, wishing a silent prayer that the woman wouldn’t get eaten and feeling bad I ever decided to walk that direction, lest I be responsible for her demise in the wolf’s mouth.
Walking away, I came upon a man, also walking his dog, wearing an official looking tag. I mentioned the sighting to him and he chuckled and said, “Oh. Those are to scare the geese. They work for about two weeks.”
I am a goose. In two weeks I will stop being afraid and walk in the woods where I place, straight past the lake and I will laugh in the face of the big bad cardboard wolf. Actually, I could probably pull it off tomorrow if I didn’t feel so sheepish. I could also pull it off tomorrow if I concluded feeling sheepish is an interesting and acceptable experience. Count your sheep as you go to sleep and laugh. It’s part of life! It’s okay to laugh with ourselves!
What are the cardboard wolfs in your life? What will it take assure you that they are fakes? What act will you do this week that’s equivalent to looking a cardboard fox in the eye and laughing as you walk on your way?
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