Lubans' Fable of the Man and the Hole in the Ground*
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Caption: Illustration by Microsoft Copilot, December 18, 2024
First posted in August 2019, in the style of George Ade, here is a 2024 version re-cast by none other than Microsoft's AI.
It was an unusual sight. Behind the town Bank, in its parking lot, a backhoe was digging away, tearing out hunks of asphalt, concrete, and dirt. Dump trucks roared off with the debris.
Lastly, a truck with a vacuum hose as big as an elephant's trunk and a tank big enough to drain a swimming pool came by and plunged into action, sucking up something out of the hole.
It was hard to tell what the project was about. Whatever it was, it left a deep hole in the ground, surrounded by fluttering yellow tape that read "Danger - Work Area."
Each day, for several days running, a man dressed in a banker's Vice President suit came out through the back door of the Bank - usually around quitting time -and walked over to the rim of the hole.
He stared and pondered, appearing to be in deep thought.
This sight - the man and his hole in the ground - bemused departing workers (BTW, if you do not believe in Resurrection, be here at quitting time).
Some were impressed by his dutiful Diligence, whispering, "No doubt, he's making sure the job is done Right." A few wondered, "I never knew he had an Engineering degree!" while others - a disrespectful few - tittered, "When is he gonna jump in"?
Eventually, the hole was filled, and the parking lot was freshly paved and newly lined; it looked Spiffy.
Probably a good thing, the man no longer stopped to look at what was now a filled-in Hole.
Sometimes it takes a hole in the ground for a man to feel Important or was that impotent?
PS. Another (sink)hole to gaze at in this story from Latvia.
*The 2019 version, pre-AI, of this fable can be found here.
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© Copyright all text John Lubans 2024