Posted by I went to the pet store, where I found myself staring at this huge aquarium.
(source: MinimalSpace | Some rights reserved)
It was manufactured to look like some sort of a reef setting. Colorful coral and plants that didn’t seem real one way or another formed a backdrop for a collection of organisms, mostly fish. Imagining the construction and deliberate intent that went into the aquarium to get it to ape the thing it intended to signify was mentally exhausting.
Cowering under a lava rock was some little crustacean, either a purplish crayfish or overgrown shrimp. It wasn’t very relaxed-looking, as the fish appeared to be, grouped among their kind, drifting, occasionally bumping heads and darting in opposite directions, less like creatures in a majestic reef and more like people in a crowded rush hour subway. Also unlike that fish, it was the only one of its kind. And despite being one of the biggest organisms in the whole place, it definitely seemed afraid, though of what, I was unsure. The way it’s antennae twitched made it look like it was the only living thing among a diorama collection of underwater train set toys and animatronic toys. I got it in my head that it could see outside the tank and in the pet store, even though I doubt its vision could get past the glass (I think I was just thinking of cartoons or something).
(source: Meagan | Some rights reserved)
On the walk back home I regarded the construction across the street from our small apartment. Men in orange vests stood watch as a massive crane deposited flats of steel i-beams on the top of the building, whose unfinished floors would eventually push up through the view out our bedroom window. These modern apartment buildings and condos stood in stark contrast to the seemingly native brownstone style, indicated by our building, which had only three floors, at two units a floor, with an indiscreet pile of trash and poorly separated recycling put out on the curb every Friday.
I wonder how much of our landscape is constructed to ape the thing it intended to signify. I wonder how much of our stories are actually on rails—guided experiences, meant to provide feelings of fulfillment, rather than the fulfillment, itself.
I wonder how long I’ve been staring at this glass.
And I become mentally exhausted.
(source: Ronnie Pitman | Some rights reserved)