A Taxidermy Break! – #13

I am giddy with joy at having a live fragrant tree in our house. With darkness coming so early the colored lights, our only decoration, satisfy my need for light. I’m not feeling the frenzy of the season quite as much this year because my gratitude for being mobile and healthy crowds out petty worries.

I do want to think of nonseasonal things occasionally so I figure maybe you would too. As they say on Monty Python, “And now for something completely different”:

The paradox of taxidermy is that it both reanimates and stills.

I can’t stop thinking about the idea that something can do two seemingly opposing things – animate and still. I’d like to give credit  but all  I have in front of me is a two inch piece of ripped newsprint. I didn’t know my mind would continue to masticate on this idea or I would have saved more of the article.

Of course my question is, what else has this paradoxical nature?  

Here’s what I’ve come up with: 

Let’s say your priority is to be good and your fantasy is that if you are good enough, (the proverbial good girl), your life will be pert near perfect. If things are going well for the good girl, she will feel animated.

Being the good girl can also put a damper on (still) her creative life. Following all the rules and keeping everyone happy would have the effect of “stilling” her.

Do you identify with the good girl? I must admit I do.

Can you think of something else that does two things at once while seeming opposite? My mind and me would really appreciate your ideas!

Thanks for exploring the mystery and merry paradoxes to you!
                                Nicky Mendenhall