Qualitative's Quantitative Dilemma
by Odin odin@aflx.com — Read all 3,869 poems by Odin odin@aflx.com
I often wonder how many Facebook friend-numbers carry any meaning for the eyes glued to the stats. Experience dictates there are fewer numbers with discretionary preference who don't frequent such low hanging fruit, and...most likely have a more satisfying life. Of course, like all opinions, I could be wrong. That's fine, but...if cuddly, warm and fuzzy kiss kiss is your quest, reading this is not the place to be. I don’t pretend to have many answers. I nevertheless find poetic questioning ever the challenge and the only aspect of poetry worth reading...really. (Photo anonymous)
Friday, February 21, 2014
Qualitative’s Quantitative Dilemma
by Odin Roark
Numbers in checkers
Numbers in chess
Thinking beyond 2 + 2 = 4
Knowing 2 & 2
Portends extension
Invites the mind to ponder
Knowing a concluded 4
Indubitably finite
And so it goes
This constant tug-of-war
Placing the challenging value of quality
Against the easier calculated quantity
Like the riches of a fairytale ruler
Versus the needs-fulfilled of the provincial
One wallows in numbers for counting
While the other sees their every move
That of thinking through what constitutes
The next hour’s harvest of nourishment
Who is with the fear of losing?
The burden of fright?
Who smiles trustingly on patience?
The gift of nurturing?
If life were a board game
Which terrain would you choose?
That of hop skip and jump
The plundering of any spoils within reach
Or that which demands careful decision
Where precise positioning of tomorrow
May continue to provide all one needs
While protecting all worth dying for
That stealth-like foreshadowing gift
Answering one of history’s
Exhaustive conundrums
Must quality of long-term goals
Always be threatened by
Quantity of short-term rewards?
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Perhaps, on the other hand, it has merely become a competition.
Myself, I literally have but a mere handful of FB 'friends', consisting of my family and long-standing friends who are currently out of reach, plus a couple of highly valued acquaintances, located on the other side of the world, and whose interactions I cherish. What more do I need.
A good one, a keeper for sure.
Ron
And eloquent delivery.
john
budd