Overtow

Ah! Those carefree days of summer, sun, sand and seashore!

This happily floating character adrift just offshore of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, is about to get a strong and sudden lesson in paying attention to the obvious. For he is about to me submerged by the strong overtow generated by the colliding currents near Diamond Shoals.

Yes, we’ve all been cautioned at one time or another to be wary of undertow, that rapidly receding and unseen low flow of water that retreats from shore after massive waves have broken upon the beach. Undertow can surreptitiously suck an unwitting swimmer out to sea.

But overtow is nowhere near as devious, and always much more obvious. It just leaps up in a big, bold crest and crashes upon the bather from above, kinda like a mini-tsunami in broad daylight. So, learn a lesson from this hapless Harry — forget about the hidden, the mysterious, the unknown and the inscrutable, and start paying attention to the plain-as-the-nose-on-your-face. Don’t let overtow overtake you!

(On a similar note: 1. Quit worrying about the red dye no. 5 in your foods, and start eliminating the sugar, the salt and the fat. 2. Stop beefing about why you’re entitled to another half-day of paid vacation this year, and take note of whether your company actually does anything useful in this world, and thus may be going under next quarter. 3. Refrain from counting the cupholders in that slick new SUV at the showroom you’ve had your eye on, and find out instead whether it gets over 9 miles per gallon.)