Opposites

“Opposition in all things,” says Sammy B Lee of the railroad gang.

Or maybe it was some other dude. I don’t remember. Maybe it was that dude I read about in the Bible. What was his name? Luke? Harry? Bilbo? Socrates? One of those.

What are some opposites? Blue and red are opposites… probably. Black and white, or maybe it’s black and yellow. That’s why Batman’s color scheme is black and yellow. So blue and grey were opposites, during the sixties.

English and food are opposites, but it’s a lot easier to choke when you’re reading a poem than when you’re narfing down a glazed donut.

Wood and metal are opposites, but both will technically burn if you get a big enough fire going. What’s opposite of fire? Not water, because I’ve seen water when it’s set on fire. That was a long day.

Lots of things are opposites. Pianos and harpsichords are opposites, and my proof is that my music teacher disagrees with me. Him and I are opposites too.

Ugly and uglier. Bees and spiders. Spaceships and steam-powered dune buggies. Zombies and politicians (or was it zombies and non-politicians?)

My favorite opposite is words and

Rocks and brains are opposites, though that’s hard to prove with all the teenagers that have rocks bouncing around in their skulls. Skulls are opposites with what exactly? Toes. Because it hurts to hit your toe on the ground, and to hit your skull in the air is heavenly. Ground and air are opposites.

There’re so many opposites they’re hard to count. After all, there is “opposition in all things”. According to Sammy Bilbo Lee anyway.

Enough hyperbole, though it does accentuate the point, which is this: not everything has an opposite.

For instance, ask yourself: “What is the opposite of today?”

Some might be tempted to say tomorrow, but then they would probably realize there’s also a yesterday. Can they both be opposites of today? How many opposites can one thing have?

Spiders, as mentioned above, don’t necessarily have an opposite. You can think of a lot more things without opposites, I’m sure.

This is where people sometimes get confused. “Opposition in all things,” doesn’t mean, “Everything has an opposite.”

It does mean, “Life is hard.”

It does mean, “Obstacles or forces will get in your way.”

Opposition is when someone or some thing works against someone else or some thing else. Consider getting out of bed and gravity.

Not opposites, but definitely opposition.