Hmmm, did you jump out of your chair on Thursday morning?
I was at my laptop absorbed in working Thursday morning as a torrential downpour of rain arrived. There is nothing particularly noteworthy about that considering had we have had more rain in the last five or 6 weeks than we had for much of last summer. Rain is a necessity even it spoils our plans occasionally.
But what did startle me was a particularly loud crack of thunder – the kind that sends dogs scuttling under the bed in fear. It made my head snap to attention and my eyes swivel to the window to check out the storm.
From the scientific perspective, thunder is simply the sound caused by lightning. The sudden increase in temperature and pressure caused by lightning results in a rapid expansion of the air in the path of a lightning bolt. This in turn creates a sonic shock wave.
Thunder comes in a number of forms. Peels are sounds changing in pitch and volume. Rolls are varying mixtures of volume and pitch. Rumbles are less loud, lower in pitch and last for 30 seconds or more. And finally, claps are loud, high pitched thunder lasting no more than two seconds.
These explanations are all well and fine. But being the Metaphor Guy who always looks for deeper meaning, it occurs to me that that particularly intense and percussive clap of thunder could be interpreted as a sonic wake up call.
We have all slipped, or been pushed, into a bit of trance for the last sixteen months as a result of the pandemic lockdown and restrictions. We have been behind closed doors, masked and in many ways muzzled.
The new normal is the catchphrase for the new world we find ourselves waking up to as some the changes we thought were temporary are becoming permanent. Fair enough.
But I like to think that that epic clap of thunder was a metaphorical slap in the face to tell us that we need to get back to embracing life and living with a purpose. We have been on an enforced pause for sixteen months. It is time to hit the play button again, emerge from our hibernation and grab life by the tail.
The new normal will only define us as much as we let it. We can and should choose to define life ourselves and be master of our own fate.
~ Now Available Online from Amazon, Chapters Indigo or Barnes & Noble: Hunting Muskie, Rites of Passage – Stories by Michael Robert Dyet
~ Michael Robert Dyet is also the author of Until the Deep Water Stills – An Internet-enhanced Novel which was a double winner in the Reader Views Literary Awards 2009. Visit Michael’s website at www.mdyetmetaphor.com .
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Tags: COVID-19 · metaphor · Michael Robert Dyet · pandemic · thunderNo Comments