Failing to notice

 

We miss a lot in life.

We are very focused on what it takes to get everything done that needs to be done.

In the process, we miss much of the world.

This is the view from the balcony of our cabin this week. It is an amazing view to us. We rarely see things like this in person.

I wonder how many of the people who live here fail to notice it anymore. It is just a part of the landscape.

I know I do this where I am from. I live in an area where there are many beautiful things. But I drive past them in a hurry to get where I need to be to do what I need to do. 

Some would respond cynically to my statement that in Flint there are many beautiful things. This just reinforces my point.

The first casualty is the beauty around us. Our surroundings and what they hold.

The second becomes the people in our lives.

I have wondered how two boys in Columbine, Colorado could build bombs and formulate a plot to massacre their peers without someone noticing. 

There were people around. They just didn’t notice these boys.

Situational awareness is one of the things taught in the classes that prepare a person to carry a firearm in public. Noticing what is going on around you. Who is around and what they are doing. Being aware of a possible danger.

I lack that sometimes. The awareness of all that is going on around me.

It is represented in the husband who “uh, huh’s” his wife from behind the newspaper while she is trying to talk with him.

It is the mother who responds, “That’s nice” to her son who just told her he is having trouble in school.

It is our kids who miss the deer crossing the road because they are watching Frozen for the twelfth time on their ipod.

People who fail to notice the things going on around them grow old and ask, “When did this happen?”

It happened when you weren’t paying attention.

Maybe the things we are giving our attention to aren’t worth exchanging for what we are missing.