The following took place in the summer, but it has stuck in my mind.

One afternoon, I was laying back resting on my bed after some exercises or guitar practice (can’t remember which) and there was this fly battering against the window. This is not so unusual. A barrier of Glass against the open sky is not a phenomenon that is within the gift of a fly’s mind to comprehend. Nor would it matter except that I was lying there and the repeated but irregular tapping of fly against glass became irritating. Two solutions were obvious: swat the fly into oblivion or open the window to let it out. Having respect for all life I opted for the latter. So I got up from the bed, walked over to the window and opened it. I thought that the fly would have responded to the draft of outside air entering the space and would then sense escape and fly to freedom. But, no: it continued to attack the glass of the remaining closed part of the window. So, I opened the window to it’s largest extent. Still the fly seemed determined to ignore the yawning path to freedom and persist in its focus on attacking the small remaining wedge of window. It was not until I used my hands to swat / guide the fly to the yawing open gap that it flew – in my mind somewhat leisurely – to god knows where…

l closed the window and assumed my previous reclining position on the bed and thought about my encounter with the fly and the window.

Why did it not notice and use the escape routes offered?

Is it only the fly that is oblivious to the obvious?

What am I missing?

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