Metaphor for Life

Here's a piece of cup artwork I did last week. I have enhanced it a bit in Paint Shop Pro, as the yellow highlighter I used on it didn't photograph very well.



For a bit of back story to it, I'll explain a bit about my work. Each of the printers has a green-yellow-red light mounted near it, visible to the others on the floor. It used to be more obvious, green if everything was going good, yellow if you get a cycle behind, and red if you fall two or more cycles behind. During some of the changes of the last year, the green and red lights meant different things, and no lights lit meant what green used to mean, all is well. Yellow is now the only light that gets used, and it just means you're behind.

I made this cup up, with the thought that the yellow light was quite a bit like life. You turn it on, and usually nothing happens. If you've fallen behind, it's usually because of a heavy work load, and that gets spread to all printers, so usually everyone else is struggling to keep up. You turn the yellow light on, and you're on your own. No one's coming to help, you better just hope for a few light batches. Of course, just like in life, there's a few people that, if you are fortunate enough to have them around you, will almost always be able to lend a hand, at least in some small way.

The interesting thing, though, is some of the responses I got from some of my co-workers. One guy noted that, no matter how bad things got, it always ends the same. Profound without even trying!!!

Another guy, when he saw it, said, "That's good, just slow it down!!!" I like that!!!