lack of Wonder(ment)

I so often overlook the simple joys of life, the subtle foundations of our surroundings that have become engrained so heavily they are ignored. For instance, the simple thrill of walking outside. We so often enter 'outside' only as a means to move to another location, be it a vehicle, a restaurant, a friend's house, grocery store, or place of employment.

But have you ever seen a child's face light up upon asking him or her if they would like to go outside. It is a place of mystery and intrigue. A place full of color and lack of symmetry. A place full of sounds and actions, whether it be wind waving through tall grass, clouds morphing and moving, birds singing and soaring, or frogs croaking and jumping

These things are all full of amazement and awe to a child, as they should be to us all, but to us they hold little or no value normally. Why? Because they do not better us immediately? Because they do not enhance us? I would argue they do, but many people would argue I am silly for thinking that. Watching a bald eagle swoop into a mighty estaurine river pulling its slick fishy meal out has done much for me as a person.

What is this lack of wonder that has swept upon us?

A generation of disengaged, detached people who would rather check their email or watch repeats than watch the reality of our surroundings. A nonstop show that has become so seperated from us. Such a strange idea. To become seperate from the outdoors. Seperate from the Earth. But what could be farther from the truth. Our houses and cars are made to be climate controlled boxes keeping us as content as possible no matter what the outside environment throws at us.

Refuge from refuge. Refuge from the community of life. To enter the community of takers. What a strange, strange bunch we have become. And at the heart of this crux, this strange fork in the path of rationality, where the rubber meets the road, reeking and seeping from the pores of consciousness, inhabits the lowing and growing lack of wonder.