The Pilot Metaphor

The pilot metaphor
For managing one's life -
You know how it is,
An airplane pilot faces a bank
Of instruments telling him
Of current conditions -
The weather outside,
The engine and electrics inside,
Whether another aeroplane
Is anywhere near out there;
The fascia of electronics
Provides the interface
Between the pilot, the aircraft
And the world outside
While he sits in his cockpit,
Encased in a surreal sphere,
In a pool of controlled climate,
No matter the deadly
Temperature outside,
Cocooned in comfort and stability,
Against the rushing speed outside,
Buoyed up in the sky against
The pull of gravity;
A pilot could be forgiven
For dreaming of pleasures
And concerns forbidden;
He can put his mind on auto pilot,
As much as he can put the plane
On the same routine control;
But, as every salty pilot knows,
This surreal security is not guaranteed forever -
Occasionally, an air pocket
And other weather turbulences
Can rock his stately aircraft
And put his state of mind on orange alert -
And, as a pilot is trained
To anticipate and handle,
But dreads all the same,
The possibillity of a red alert,
Is always at the back of his mind;
An impending collision or crash, engine failure,
Poor landing visibility, forced landing,
Being hijacked, miscommunication,
All may burst the bubble of security
With disastrous and fatal results.

As piloting a plane,
So it is with managing life.
Just as you don't blame
And hit out at the array
Of instruments for any
adverse info,
What more at the weather outside,
Every time an air pocket or turbulence
Knock you out your comfort kilter,
So you don't react at the person
Or circumstance which is giving you the jitter.
You don't kill the messenger
However bad the news;
But rather you make choices and decisions
To not make things worse
And keep things on an even keel,
Just as a pilot would make adjustments
To keep his aircraft on a safe course.