sign
A sign is a capricious soothsayer that appears as if to foretell the future, yet shirks all responsibility to prompt action. It vanishes when anyone pays attention and wreaks havoc when ignored. In medicine or weather, it implants the possibility of misfortune in our minds, never bothering to propose concrete countermeasures. Cherished as a crisis-management excuse generator, it always laughs off its warnings as mere imagination. Ironically, the very presence we strive to ignore may be the greatest warning of all.