WYSIWYG

Pronounced wizzywig… What You See Is What You Get…

This is an acronym I learned from programmers I worked with back in the day.  The reason it is the title of this blog is because last weekend I discovered that that is not always true.  Sometimes what you get is a reflection of how you processed the information about what you see.

Last weekend I was visiting my mom at her cabin on the lake.  Weather permitting, every evening we built a fire in the firepit my brothers and I bought her for Mother’s Day.  The last night as we were sitting on the patio and it had grown dark, we noticed a light (bluish white) out on the lake directly in front of the dock.  We wondered if it was the two guys that fish out there every day.  Pretty soon the light was kind of bouncing around, so we thought maybe they were using a flashlight on the boat.  Pretty soon it had moved over to the left and seemed to be “skittering” around the water.  The boat couldn’t have moved over there that fast.  We never really figured out what it was.  In retrospect, I suspect somebody was flying a drone on the lake.  Not sure what else it could be.  Well, didn’t worry about that light anymore, anyway, as  my attention was diverted by some red lights to my left that appeared to be at the edge of the woods about 15-20 feet away from the patio.

Now, what the hell?  I pointed the lights out to my mom and asked?  Did we set the woods on fire?  Where is that light coming from now?  She didn’t have any answers.  We continued to watch the lights and try to figure it out.  Pretty soon the lights seemed to take on different shapes , appeared to be moving and it looked like maybe somebody was walking out of the woods, using some kind of infra-red lighting.  Now, I’m really wondering.  The lots off to the left are just that…lots.  No houses, no people living there.  Who the hell is walking through the woods after dark?  I couldn’t imagine who it could be.    I said to my mom “maybe it’s the aliens.  I better go investigate.”  I got out of my chair and headed towards the woods.  I took about 3-4 steps off the patio towards the lights and stopped cold in my tracks.  I had just almost run into the back of my truck.  I had parked it close by earlier to unload firewood, but couldn’t see it in the dark, so had forgotten it was still there.  All those lights we had been seeing in the woods was just a reflection of the fire from the bumper of my truck.

So there you have it.  I saw what I saw, but it wasn’t really what I saw.  It was colored by my perception of what I was seeing, altered by the reality of what was really out there in the dark, and fueled by a somewhat active imagination.

Pause for thought…

Think about those situations where somebody says something to you, or you see something happening, maybe out of context, maybe real, but always perceived through your own lens.  We all have our view of the reality of the world in which we live in, based on our own experiences, beliefs and what we think we know to be true.  But often there are things in play that we just can’t see, or really know.  Sometimes you have to investigate further and/or pause and understand what is happening that you can’t see and accept a different reality than what you thought to be true.  Sometimes that means walking into the woods to confront whoever is there and sometimes it means a conversation with my mind, or with someone else, to put it into perspective.

I’m happy to report there are no aliens in the woods by my mom’s.  Just us and the fire and the bumper of my truck.

Love and Peace,

Chick