New Eyes

Your eyes take in everything around you. They are unbiased and flood your brain full of data. Then your brain analyzes it, throws out the unecessary, keeps the necessary and their you go, there are your thoughts. It is a pretty unchanging process and that is basically what is happening every nanosecond of your day. I figured out something kind of interesting though, and allthough it might be common knowledge to some people, it was new to me.

Everyday you walk around like a robot, doing the same thing and processing things the same exact way. I am no exception, but I noticed a change in that when I was in high school. I got a summer job at a place called Metro Maples. It is a tree farm that grows all types of decorative Japanese and Chinese maples trees as well as different types of plants. I was involved in every step of the process from seedling to full grown tree. I learned what the leaves looked like when they needed water, were deficient of nutrients, or if they were healthy or sick. Pretty soon I was no longer walking into work, but I was walking into an abundance of life. I noticed all of the trees and all of the messages they were conveying. This also didn't stop at the farm. When I was back at home or in Florida, I could tell you how the rainfall was this week, or even last year. That experience opened my eyes to a whole new way to view things. It forever changed my perception of the world around me. It doesn't stop there either.

This summer I got really into longboarding. Pumping and carving my way through the urban landscape brought a sense of peace and calm to my mind. I soon began to make a map in my head of all the best areas to longboard. And now when I walk to a new place, I no longer see malls or sidewalks, I see a concrete playground. When I'm running errands or going out to eat I'll spot a large parking garage and wish I'd brought my board. I'll see a vast parking lot and think about how cool it would be to skate that. Longboarding changed my perception of urban landscape forever.

These aren't the only two things that change my perception of the world, there are hundreds, and throughout my life I will gather many. This might be the key to our understanding of culture too. For Example, it is a common American stigma to dislike the French. Why? I think that answer has become convoluted and vague over the years, and we aren't really sure why. But I bet if we did a little bit of traveling in France and experienced their lifestyle, it would allow us interpret current events the same way they do and understand their thoughts on things. Our experiences not only define us, but they define how we interpret the world around us.