Where's the Wonder?

It gets very easy to walk through the world without noticing the really cool things that are all around us.  It gets very easy to lose our sense of wonder and have it replaced with a sense of the mundane, with the idea that nothing's all that special because we see it every day.  We seem to be a part of the "been there, done that" generation, as if just because we've already been somewhere or done something, there's nothing more to be seen or experienced that's worth our while in that place or circumstance.

If we're to have a sense of wonder in this world, then it's a sense that we need to nurture.  If we're to see the special and amazing in all the places and things that are special and amazing, then believe it or not, it's up to us to see and feel those things--it's not something that just happens all the time.  Imagine feeling the way you feel when you see a beautiful sunset--all the time!  You can feel that way if you just make the effort to do so.  The people that you meet each day all have wonderful parts of themselves that have yet to be uncovered; the places you've been to have wonderful aspects to be discovered; just as the books that you've already read and the movies you've already seen will reveal more of their wonder to you upon a second reading or viewing.

I feel myself losing my sense of wonder very often, and usually after three or four days of moving like a sleepwalker through life.  But then I wake up, and my eyes open, and I see the wonder and the amazing qualities of everything that's around me.  I guess we just need to keep waking ourselves up, over and over again, so that we can truly see what's truly around us.  If we can do that, there's no telling just how magical the world around us will be--it won't become magic because it already is so, but at least we'll be able to see all the amazing things that are there.  And once we can do that, then can't we teach others to do the same?

If a child is to keep alive his or her
inborn sense of wonder, he or she
needs the companionship of at least
one adult who can share it, rediscovering
with the child the joy, excitement
and mystery of the world we live in.

Rachel Carson