Occasionally dramatic events change our lives, but most changes happen almost imperceptibly. Examples are everywhere we look and they never cease to amaze me.
Couch potatoes. We all know some. They spend as much of their free time lying down watching TV as they can arrange. Some I know fall asleep watching the boob tube. Many of these were once extremely active and played every sport they were introduced to, willingly. How did this transformation happen? Was it an edict from a celestial source? I doubt it. Their behaviour changed s l o w l y over time and what once would have been perceived as a despicable approach to life becomes routine.
No more classic an example is when you meet someone, often but not exclusively male, who has an almost normal figure for their age but has built up over the years one huge belly. Not just a pot belly, a hardware store full. This person, you are almost certain, was once 17 or 23 and out there raking leaves and likely looking as trim and fit as the rake in their hands. Cases of glandular malfunction or severe physical trauma do exist, but do not cover most we see. Was there a point, one wonders, when this person examined themselves in the mirror and noticed an inch of waist that wasn’t there a month earlier? Has this person developed the knack of ignoring mirrors altogether? It appears people find mechanisms that allow various aspects of personal depreciation and forget to watch for the warning signs that, compiled over the years, result in a non-requested state of being.
If you drive your car until the oil warning light comes on it has likely already resulted in some damage, but at least with a car there is non-negotiable evidence that change is occurring. Barring a similar universally adopted medical implant for humans, and with the likely event that evolution in this regard will maintain its dogged pace, I suppose that leaves us all in the awkward position of being responsible for observing our own individual warning signs. A sign, perhaps, of the times.
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