It has been awhile since my opinion or guest column has appeared in the Kennebunk Post, and I want you to know that the reason for this is not any decision or oversight on the part of the editorial or other staff of the newspaper, but because of a situation of my own that is both multiform and poly funicular, if you know what I mean. Specifically, my computer turned squirmy, refusing to do anything I told it to do, just as my printer went obstinate, announcing that it was tired of all these words, would prefer some pictures to print, especially colorful ones, and short of that, was just going to sit there and luxuriate in the steady, warm flow of yummy electrons through its wires, to which it was certainly entitled after these many years of grinding out the same 26 letters, 10 numbers and a series of other strange and boring marks over and over and over again. In fact, I had just begun a guest column called, “The Fireflies Are Back!” in which I intended to say this annual early summer celebration of light over dark usually portends the coming of better times, while the fireflies kill, eat and lay their eggs in the snails and slugs that come to eat your vegetable garden, and what a thrill it is for me to sit at my desk at dusk and, while trading winks with my personal tree just on the other side of the driveway, admire the flickering dance of the fireflies across my lawn.
Well, so much for that. The computer is reasonable and reliable once again, and does what I ask it to do, since it noticed a reconditioned and refurbished printer sitting on the floor in a crate right in the middle of my office, while I look for the best place to put the ink in. The rule of thumb for machines and people goes like this: We expect machines to perform perfectly, but not people; We expect machines will break down from time to time, but not people; When they do, we expect machines can be easily repaired or replaced, but not people.
People are special. Special. Orrin Frink is a Kennebunkport resident.
He can be reached at [email protected]. Comments are not available on this story.
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