A Feeble Attempt

 

I noticed a circle of rocks around the campfire.  It was a familiar look, as I had learned to do that when I was a scout. After thinking about the actual containment aspect of the rocks, taking into consideration the low level of the rocks and the wind, I came to the realization that it was quite a feeble attempt at keeping the fire from spreading.

Perhaps the hidden message here was to simply be aware of the possibility of the fire spreading, even knowing the rocks did little against the wind blowing across the leaping flames.

I would guess there are many other situations where we do something, hoping to do or prevent something else, while in reality our efforts fall short.  We pay for years for life insurance and yet we still die.  We sneeze into our elbow to stop the spread of germs, then go to work and share the same copy machine, the same doorknobs and pass around the same reports from office to office and person to person.  At lunch time we gather at the same salad bar, sharing the same utensils to select food made by someone unknown in an unseen kitchen. 

Last night, during dinner at a local restaurant, they passed around a small bottle of hand sanitizer in an effort to control the spread of germs.  Then we all handled the large laminated menus to make our selection.  I expect the menus have never been cleaned.  They just travel from table to table, being passed from employee to customer over and over again.

Maybe we need bigger rocks.