On the road…again!!!
Essays, Stories, Adventures, Dreams
Chronicles of a Footloose Forester
By Dick Pellek

 

Indy Meets Dede at the Blue Lagoon

(An Allegorical Tale)

She was attractive and a bit mysterious, but Indy wanted to meet her and see where the relationship might go.  There she was, admiring the sparking blue fountains of water as they rose from the middle of the pond.  As he got closer, he noticed that there several ponds containing the same deep blue-green water, and all the ponds had the same beautiful fountains of water sparkling in the sunshine.  A romantic place? The perfect spot to lounge on a warm sunny day?

In fact, Dede was sitting by one of several aeration ponds hard at work in killing off potential harmful organisms, and the deep blue-green water was a byproduct of a manufacturing process.  The scene may have seeming charming but it was also curious. Indy was not concerned, because he has his family values to uphold and he intended to learn something about Dede and what makes her tick.

So, he introduced himself thus: Hi! I’m Indy.  My family name is Induct. I’m curious to know what you find so interesting about this place.  She responded, my name in Deduct but everybody calls me Dede.  Isn’t it funny that some people might joke that we might be labeled as induction and deduction?  Yeah, said Indy, but we have been around for a long time, in fact my family dates back to Euripides.  WOW!  I might have guessed, retorted Dede.  I can tell by your serious, no-nonsense demeanor. Anyway, don’t you think these beautiful blue fountains of water are spectacular?  Yes, replied Indy…you might deduce that colored fountains are eye-catching and those particular colors are particularly appealing.  But I’m wondering why they are so appealing to you just because of the pretty colors.  Don’t you know that they exist because the manufacturers are trying to mitigate the potential for negative environmental impacts on the public? The water might also be harmful to fish, birds, and mammals.  

All I know is, said Dede, is that they are beautiful and this place has many ponds to proudly display their beauty.  Don’t tell me that you are against water fountains.  Indy is gob smacked.  Dede, did it ever occur to you that these beautiful water fountains may be poisonous?  Sometimes, the creations of chemists who have only the public interest in mind produce things that are not natural and might even be harmful. Did you ever hear of thalidomide, Dede? It was supposed to help in birth control.  Or, dioxin?  It was a biproduct of a herbicide intended to defoliate vegetation.  I might ask, are you against killing unwanted vegetation, such as the weeds in your lawn?   What you are seeing is a biproduct of a manufacturing process, but you already know that because your family name is Deduct and what you see is obvious.

Dede is conflicted because she seems to like Indy and thinks that there may be some merit to his pointed observations.  Maybe she can win him over by acknowledging his valid observations but getting him to accept what is factually the state-of-the-art in manufacturing processes.  Maybe they have a future together despite they different approaches.  After all, most happy marriages thrive when problems are understood and worked out.

Some people don’t like Indy because he comes across as a Know-it-All and always seems to over-analyze things.  As one respected Senior Citizen put it, you get paralysis by analysis.  Such people might be fond of Dede because she seems to accept things without question, and is the perfect, pretty wallflower.  Besides, she is bright and very observant.  And the beat goes on!   

As a check to see what AI had to say about this allegorical tale, the Footloose Forester was disappointed that AI did not hit on the obvious references to INDUCTION OR DEDUCTION as ways to view the blue lagoon.  The whole point of the chronicle was to obviate a circumstance where one of the characters was satisfied with being an observer using a deductive reasoning approach, while Indy, the other character, was invoking inductive reasoning to question why the blue lagoon was even there.  In this test case of applying AI to literally write a summary, the response barely receives a passing grade.