Deception and false promises

Most all of the domestic and local monsters I’ve come up against in my lifetime have one thing in common. Precious few of them ever posed any real mortal threat to me, or to anyone else. The fear and dread I felt was most all in my own mind. I suppose that tree might have fallen on me or my friend, and one of those furnace monsters could have caused a fire. Accidents like that are pretty rare (unless you are a lumberjack, in the case of trees) thankfully. But then there are the those monsters that are very lethal to a tiny percentage of people, like the Key Bridge. Millions of people cross bridges every single day, and nothing bad happens. From mega monsters like the Golden Gate Bridge all the way down to run of the mill freeway overpasses, daily life goes on uneventfully. Clearly from the standpoint of the average person, none of these monsters is very dangerous or threatening at all. People who suffer from gephyrophobia would beg to differ about bridges, but phobias are not based on logic and reasoning. However, there is that other tiny minority of people for whom bridges really are deadly monsters. The phobia sufferer avoids the bridge like the plague for fear of getting killed in a collapse or by somehow accidentally going over the edge. But for the others, a bridge is to them like a carnivorous plant to an unwitting insect.

Flesh eating plants advertise for victims by use of scents and colors which would normally indicate the presence of sustenance to certain insects. These plants, like man made metal monsters, have no way to go about and hunt down victims. So the insect is thus tricked into thinking it will get a meal; food that might last it another day or food in which to lay eggs to eventually feed its offspring. The hapless fly or bee goes in search of a life sustaining necessity and instead finds death as it becomes ensnared. But of course all animals must search for food as a relief to the unpleasant sensation of hunger. The metal monster’s victims are somewhat different but also alike in some aspects as to what they are seeking. These people are generally seeking relief from pain, misery, sorrow, depression and a whole host of negative emotions, feelings and circumstances. Those monsters appear to promise an end to the suffering, but, like a killer plant, that offer is based on a false premise. I really do not know why some bridges become epic death traps for the downtrodden, though I have tried to speculate. Perhaps a hapless bug might choose to land on the flesh eating plant that is the tallest, the most colorful, the one with the strongest odor, or simply the one closest to it. But once the insect lands, it instantly discovers that it is doomed, seized in a trap, stuck in sticky goo or drowning in a deep pool, and it struggles helplessly until the end. Likewise, the human victim is drawn to a particular metal monster, where location, height, appearance and proximity all likely play into that fateful decision. The promise of a way to escape the torture is all too tempting. The trap has been set, and the monster awaits. Passive killers that have neither the ability nor need to chase down prey are then able to draw a steady supply of victims. The unwitting insect ends up selecting and approaching its killer, as does the bridge jumper, although the latter is well aware that the search for solace will end in death. And the victim, once summoned to the highest part of the monster’s span, must then undertake the last step of climbing over the edge and then to jump. Like an insect standing on the rim of a pitcher plant, just beginning to crawl over the edge. Until it slips and falls to its doom. It is then, based on many survivor accounts, that the monster’s trap has been sprung. The deception is up, and the victim now has no way out. The promise of relief from life’s miseries becomes a harrowing battle for survival. The monster’s victim fights with every fiber of his being to survive, to do anything possible to arrest his descent and avoid a gruesome demise. Grasping at straws when there are none left to grab. I wonder if the Key Bridge jumper saw the concrete base of that monster’s pier coming fast at him right before he was smashed upon it. Maybe his last vision was of the iron demon’s span receding above him. Or might he have closed his eyes?