Watching for the Small Things

Today, though normality was strewn throughout most of the day, I felt rather enlightened from my AP Literature class. Now, I usually tend to get tired in this class, but today I was oddly awake, and it seems, as they say, everything happens for a reason. Since I was so awake, I was about to listen in on the conversation/lecture that my teacher was holding with a student, but as well as the class in general.

My teacher was telling us how she and a friend of hers were discussing society and how it is today. She believed that society today is busy, but is almost too busy. Since people are children, their lives are filled with activities day to day, hour to hour, and that they grow accustomed to that. But with that, people lose the time they would usually have to allow self-reflection. My teacher saw that as a sad thing. And I would agree. I agreed with a lot that she said earlier this day, and I realized, that this moment, this time, when I sit here and write this out is my time of self-reflection. My time where I walk through the city of my thoughts and notice the little things and appreciate all that is around me, rather than just always being on the go, going through the motions.

I am envious, and in awe, of my teacher sometimes. She may be a bit quirky, but aren't all people in one way or another? She is able to see so deeply into the smallest of things with such ease, she contemplates things and grasps so much out of life, and she seems to treasure one's sense of self and the acceptance of ourselves and each other. For that, I envy her. She is what I strive to mirror. I don't want to be a clone, a copy of any sort, but I want to be able to view the world as she does in a sense.

I guess that our elders do have wisdom to share, and thankfully, my teacher's wisdom is one of acceptance rather than that of the stereotypical judging and condemning.




Now, to add to this, I ironically had to write an essay in this class on appearances and how they really aren't that important, and once a person pushes their worry about appearances to the side and focus on just making sure that their core selves is what really shines, that person can finally attain happiness. They will be optimistic versus being pessimistic.

I just found it ironic that that was the subject of our prompt, as appearances and the opinions of others was mentioned in the entry before this.


And now for two quotes I quite like:

"The closer you get to someone, something, some brand, some organization… the harder it is to demonize it, objectify it or hate it. So, if you want to not be hated, open up. Let people in. Engage. Interact."
-Seth Godin

"You can’t live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you. ”
-John Wooden