We're life's oversight,

watchers and blunders; so cleave

fiercely, both from/to.

HOLD FAST, PRO-CONTRANYMS!

previous          next          home

contact gabriel

“As you grow older, you’ll find the only things you regret are the things you didn't do." Zachary Scott This motivational quote also serves as a statement to human perception.  Just as a glass is half empty if only half full, one cannot do unless also not doing.  To stay here, there must be a somewhere you do not go, and vice versa.    However, according to Scott, if presented two fruits, you will regret actually choosing the apple less than you will regret not choosing the orange.  Marry the wrong person and you will regret not marrying X more than you will regret actually marrying Y.  In other words, regret has uneven vision, a far-sidedness.  Like grandpa holding that evening newspaper arm's length away, our misgivings too prefer focusing on faraway rather than close at hand.  
 
Which makes contranyms wonderful words, as they contain meanings that are opposite, equal to both the do and undo/not doing.  Consider clip:  Clip (detach) this coupon and clip (attach) it to my shirt.  Or bound:  She would be bound (headed) for New York if not bound (stuck) to her job.  Of the many contranyms (aka, autoantonyms) one could be, it is exciting to be life's oversight (overlooker; lifeguard) as well as life's oversight (overlooked detail; missed mistake), for then we are both perceiving and beyond monitoring.  Think of it as license to cut loose and/or grab on, to cleave and to cleave freely.   Does this haiku mean something different to you? Contact me!