Prompt 6

My immediate response to the prompt was an internal transportation to the realm of my childhood where my mom was convinced my brother and I had no sense of "wow." The first time I had been scolded in this way occurred while we were scaling a steep slope during a trip to Aspen for a wedding. It was summer and I had been dragged from my luxurious routine of nothingness and swim team practice. I was entirely incapable of appreciating the natural beauty of my surroundings 1) because I defiantly didn't want to, I was being forced to hike against my will, and  2) I had not yet in my life spent a great deal of time divorced from nature (which impacts the way I appreciate it now). Whenever my brother and I "failed" to value our surroundings in some way, this phrase was invoked and our eye rolls loyally followed. 

Seeing and wanting or desire are so profoundly connected. You can "see the world in a grain of sand," as William Blake writes, or you can see a speck of the earth as insignificant as the plastic bag in the bin (which, conversely, to someone else, is worthy of prize). You can see the beauty of a natural aspen landscape, or the mountains can taunt you and your lack of free will, exaggerating the small beads of sweat that have unfortunately begun to fall from exercise. 

I am particularly fond of the quote because there is the obvious implication that there's always something to see, it's just a matter of looking. The verb "to look" lacks the thoughtful connotation that charges "to see." If a person is open to the possibility of seeing, the only necessary avenue is the eye. I think it is in large part from the desire to see that I decided to both take a year off from school and transfer. I felt that too much time had been spent with my head down, or in a cubicle... the classroom can be stifling. So, I hopped off the academic treadmill and embraced new environments, and continue to do so with renewed vigor. 

My personal reality has become one where there is always something to see, always something to learn, aways something to be valued (or deemed invaluable.. which is also a worthy appraisal for the self). My tendency to return to social media commentary is becoming tiresome, however, I do think that instagram can be viewed positively in regard to appreciation of what was already there. Though enhancement is a defining feature, I would venture to say that there is the possibility that before, people didn't realize the artistry of their breakfast or the way the light catches a particularly imposing office building. Maybe people are more in tune to their environment, seeking to be captured by what is already there and has always been there, but not noticed. This appraisal ignores so many other aspects of this "seeking," but I want to keep maintain my positive characterization. 

This post is a ramble, but I will follow up with some visuals!