Koan

A long time ago, in a land far away, lived a dragon in his deep, dark lair. He was an impressive dragon, as dragons go. With massive wings on which he would soar high amidst the clouds. Scales that shone with the fury of the sun. His talons could split a rock asunder, his breath singe a tree to ash. Grown men would reel at the mere thought of him. The forest itself trembled when he roared.

One Spring morning, the dragon descended from his lair to roam the land. All creatures of the forest, far and wide, ran and hid in their burrows to escape the wrath of the beast. All but the wise snake, who lay quietly in the middle of the road, basking by the glow of the morning sun.

As the dragon swaggered through the forest, he came across the snake. "Are you not scared of me, to lie in my path", he bellowed, "Or do you grow tired of this life?"

"And why should I be scared of you, dragon?", asked the snake, unperturbed.

The dragon was less than amused. "Do you not know me? I am the great dragon lord. The most terrible of all the great beasts. No man can tame me, no beast can withstand me. I have conquered the land and the seas. Reduced great kingdoms to dust. Slain valiant knights in their shining armours. And never once have I lost as much as a scale. No one in all the lands dare challenge my might. You must be a fool not to fear me."

The snake remained unmoved. "Indeed you are strong and brave, dragon. But tell me this, have you truly won all your battles?"

On hearing this, the dragon hung his head in shame.

The Itch

Among other self-indulgences during my sabbatical from this blog, I have been indulging myself in a bit of football (or soccer, as it is called in these parts). To be honest, I was a little apprehensive taking to the field after all these years. But to my credit, I haven't done half bad. I've rediscovered some of my dribbling skills, been pretty useful in defense, and to everyone's astonishment, have even managed to score the odd goal or two. All this while getting some much needed exercise.

If there's a downside to all of this, it has to be the bugs. Mosquitoes mostly. And other pesky, blood-sucking arthropods. The field's literally littered with them. You hardly notice them during the game itself, but then end up spending the next three days scratching yourself silly. Especially during those long, pointless meetings where the mind wanders all too readily.

All this vigorous scratching has got me thinking. What's the point of the mosquito, anyway. What grand purpose could this most noisome of species serve? Other than to disprove the theory of creationism, that is. Think about it. What twisted, spiteful god could deem it fit to create such a vile prophet of doom? How sick and demented would a grand creator have to be to spawn such an unearthly pestilence, a slubberdegullion parasite on the underbelly of helminth, presumably in its own image?

Don't bother answering that. I think it may be a rhetorical question.

So that's it, you ask. The first post in over a year, and it's some half-baked ramble on bloodsucking vermin. Is that how it is going to be?
Yes.