Revelation

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Something occurred to me recently. I was driving through the New Forest to go to work at the Pottery and thinking about my travels and all the wonderful places that I hope to see and feel and experience. What occurred to me was this; all of those beautiful places must be home to someone? And I wondered to myself if they look upon those places with sheer wonderment as I know I will. Do they form a part of the ranks of people who every day discover something new and incredible in these landscapes? These ranks made up of countless travellers before me and countless more to come. Visitors in these lands so new and interesting that we must attempt to capture its very essence in a million photographs or a series of intensely descriptive journal entries? Do they walk out into the day and breath in the beauty of their surroundings and thank some higher being for this day, rain or shine, and for the very fact that they are alive to appreciate it?

Or do they, like most of us, spend the greater part of their day ignoring their surroundings and being thankful only for the lack of traffic on the way to work or for one green light instead of the usual array of red ones we get when we're in a hurry. Spending our time and energy getting crazy at the guy in front for cutting us up, fiddling with the radio to get a half decent station playing, god forbid, a song instead of incessant ramblings and thinking, even worrying, about the day ahead?

When did we stop looking around us? When did we stop absorbing the sights and sounds of the world? When did everything stop being new and interesting? I'm as guilty as anyone in not appreciating my world but I have, in obsessing over my up coming trip, began already to open my eyes a little wider and start appreciating our landscape again. Seeing the true, quiet, reserved beauty of the British countryside, towns and cities. We don't do things on a grand scale in this country, we do things small, quaint and almost introverted so you have to look a little harder for it but if you look, you will be rewarded.

Life is bigger than us and our small lives and there's an overwhelming amount of world out there.

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