Wednesday, July 1, 2009

A Simple Safety Equation

A pedestal rests on the shoulders of a cage, rounded at the top and easily mistaken for a base. One cannot place anything upon it. Any contents will slip right off and under the fail-safe and into the realm of No One Truly Knows. Fail-safe. What a peculiar word. Dissect it, and see it as an oxymoron - unless we are taking it for its actual use: a secondary system to backup the primary system in case of failure. "Better safe than sorry," one might say, but I would not agree. No, safety has a limit, and if one were to make, say... a third backup system, then "safe" would automatically become "paranoid." Fail-paranoid. As stupid as it sounds, that is more like it. So long, oxymoron! More like a poly-moron. It is a simple equation, really:

safe + safe + safe = paranoid

Being cautious keeps you safe, and safe can be good, but paranoia is not as pleasant.

-afm

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