"If the relationship between the manipulated variable and the responding variable is a direct proportion, what will a line graph of the relationship look like?" Ans: A straight line.

Without knowing why, my heart would flutter in math class (Geometry, I suppose, was the specific arm of mathematics being studied) when the teacher would say:

"The shortest distance between two points is a straight line."

There seemed to be so much hope in that axiom, that law, whatever it is... it seemed to say, between any two entities, there is a connection, perhaps not seen, but present. You can get there from here. And what is more, the path between ideas, people, theories, truths, is not convoluted or coy. It is a straight line.

In looking over a science lesson today I came across the quote that functions as the title of this post. It says to me, "for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction." It says "let the punishment fit the crime," it says "yin-yang," it says "find the balance." Things become "out of whack," when one entity swings too far forward or back. Respond to an appropriate degree. Be angry at the right time, with the right person, for the right reason, Aristotle said. It even calls to mind the truism that real power is self-restraint.

I have been pondering the invisible lines that connect us to those with whom we are in relationships. No more than papery wisps those lines are. Nothing that you think would hold, but they do. even when there seems to be no path back, there is still a line.