Series

In physics, circuits can run in series or in parallel. Parallel means multiple things simultaneously. Series means one lined up right after another. A group of things in series means they build upon one another. I love a good series. I read the Terry Goodkind series last year. I am thankful I waited until they were all written and the series was complete because I could sit down and devour the series. I loved Kahlan and Richard, the woods guide. I just finished reading all but the last Sookie Stackhouse series written by Charlaine Harris. I am watching Battlestar Galactica. How I missed this series is beyond my comprehension. But now, my son and I can pile up on the sofa or in bed (like we did this afternoon) and watch an episdoe or two.

So many things in life a serial. College was serial. You pick a major and some guidance counselor gives you the list of courses. There are prerequisites and it is essentailly a map to follow. In the end, you have a fund of knowledge and a competency that earns you a diploma. Work projects and home projects are the same. Everything builds on something. Skip an episode or a book in a series and you’re lost. Skip a step in the series of your life and the way is as uncertain. It is not that skipping steps makes the path unpredictable.  Skipping makes the path vanish.

A serial life is fluid. It is continuous. There is no stopping and starting. There is also pace. Think of a current or a river. If the journey is a serial one, it is like a series of locks, connected and dependent on the previous. A parallel path means division. The current is separated and broken up. The flow is weakened; its force is diminished. The current is no longer whole. Certainly, the parallel life holds parts in reserve, protected in the division. The serial life is full force, full strength; it is bolder and braver albet more at risk. It uts all its eggs in one basket.

Such is life.

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