In a car, you are nothing more than a passive observer. You’re so used to it you no longer notice. Everything is moving around you boringly through a frame, through the car window, it’s all just more television.
When you walk the frame is gone. You’re there. You’re in the scene, no longer simply watching, and the sense of presence is addicting.
The reaffirming concrete beneath your soles is real. You’re lost among the chaos of the sleepless action. The world around you changes. The change is tangible; you see it in the mismatched trees as one color devours the next. If you’d like, you can reach out and touch the leaves – you can feel the red and yellow bleed into the green.
Do you feel it?
Instead of listening to your playlist like background noise you can listen to the symphony of the street. The unique chorus of people going about their lives, of nature competing with the city for dominance: the music that’s all around us we choose to ignore in favour of this week’s Top Twenty.
Do you hear it?
The whole experience is never removed from your immediate consciousness. You’re aware. Someone is watching you; you’re the actor people wish they were or were with. You’re the one living, no longer passively going about your day. You’re alive.
Do you want it?
Wow! I love that. I
ReplyDeleteknow nature and leaves are
so beautiful
but usually we don't see it.
Have a good day
So true.
ReplyDeleteI walk to work every day and I love it. I feel like I'm in the world properly when I walk places. Being in a car is so much more remote, like only being half there.
What a great post! Thanks for sharing. Thanks, too, for your sweet comments on my blog!
ReplyDeleteYES to all three questions :0) Terrific post!
ReplyDelete