….there is an equal and opposite reaction. If this is one of the laws of physical science, does it apply in other realms as well? Certainly for every Please there is a Thank You (well, in an ideal world), a hand doesn’t shake itself, and if someone offers to push in your chair, you raise your tush accordingly.

This metaphor bears out when something– greeting, pleasantry, soft furnishing– is proffered, but what of a deficit situation? Good-bye, certainly, matches Good-bye. But what about in an imbalance? A pink slip is met with…a shocked expletive? The purchase price of a losing lottery ticket…A date that doesn’t show up….A ticket for a canceled concert….

What of loss? A runaway pet leaves hope and imaginings of a happy reunion, I suppose, but that’s not real loss.  Such as knowing that pet is never coming back. An empty place at the table, a single earring in the jewelry box, an unanswered letter. What rises up in opposite action?

A void. (Oh… there is that word again!) A great void, a small one, a dark space that used to be filled with light. In equal measure does not necessarily mean an equitable exchange.