I can’t remember the first time I saw it, but it scared me to death from the very start. It might have been in an episode of The Lone Ranger. Or maybe it was in The Wild Wild West. But there it was. It was threatening certain death to anyone who came near it.
Quicksand.
For a while there, quicksand was in all the shows, it seems. I mean, it popped up as trouble in episodes of Gilligan’s Island, Batman, and Lost In Space. Heck, even the Incredible Hulk was battling the stuff. And what about Lucy, with Jack Benny in The Lucy Show? They sank together in quicksand.
It appeared in lots of movies, too, I’ll tell you.
When my sister and I played “Superheroes” with our bath towels pinned around our necks for our capes, one of our biggest perils was the pit of quicksand in the middle of our living room floor.
Yes. I feared the stuff. I made a vow that I would always spot the quicksand before it spotted me.
As it turns out, in all my years, I’ve never come across one grain of quicksand.
But. It is real. It exists. And yet? Quicksand is not quite the fearsome force of nature we sometimes see on the big screen.
In fact, this horrible beast in my mind is no more than a few feet deep. It’s basically just wet sand. What happens is that the sand is so saturated with water that the friction between sand particles is reduced. So, it basically becomes a mushy mixture of fine sand and water that can no longer support any weight.
Quicksand is not a unique type of soil. Just sand and water. It can occur anywhere under the right conditions, like riverbanks, beaches, lake shorelines, or marshes.
They say that if you do step in a puddle of quicksand, the worst thing to do is to thrash about. Instead, the experts suggest just lying back, and you will float.
The science part is this: The average human body has a density of 62.4 pounds per cubic foot (1 g/cm3) and is able to float on water. Quicksand is denser than water — it has a density of about 125 pounds per cubic foot (2 g/cm3) — which means you can float more easily on quicksand than on water.
Now, the scientific part scares me a bit because I think I’m an exception to the rule. I’m a really good swimmer. Because I have to be. I do not have the ability to float. I sink like a rock. Even in the ocean’s salty water. Glub, glub. There is no floating lazily on my back. I go naturally to the bottom of the pool. So, I fear this would be the case in quicksand.
Somebody throw me a rope.
Which brings me to this. Throw me a rope. Quicksand can be a powerful metaphor for many different aspects of life, depending on the situation.
You see. Quicksand looks like solid ground, when in fact, it gives the illusion of stability. And this can be in our lives. Sometimes, things seem okay on the surface, but underneath, there are hidden dangers or problems that can quickly pull us under.
The other part of this is the futility of struggle. As I’ve mentioned, when someone gets stuck in quicksand, the more they fight and thrash, the deeper they sink. Again, in our real lives, there may be a situation where we are feeling overwhelmed and out of control. Trying to force our will on a bad situation can often make it worse. Instead, it’s sometimes better to take a step back, assess the situation calmly, and come up with a more strategic approach.
And finally? Somebody throw me a rope. The power of external help. Sometimes, we can’t get out of quicksand on our own. We are dense, like me, and we start to sink. And so? We may find those same situations in life. Sometimes, we need to reach out for support. Whether it’s a friend, family member, or professional, sometimes the best way to overcome a challenge is to ask for help.
Our lives can be tricky at times. But hopefully, we can always find a way back to where it is safe and solid.
“”””””””””
“Sometimes, the most productive thing you can do is relax.” – Mark Black
“”””””””””
“In the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity.” – Albert Einstein
“”””””””””
“You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.” – Maya Angelou
“”””””””””
How far can you sink? The quicksand knows.
