What Are We Missing

There are just some things in this life that you cannot replace or do without. Things that weave their way into the fabric of our core, things that are seeded and sewn from times gone by into our most precious memories.

 

On a recent walk I realized and experienced a multitude of these precious gifts. Not only did they immediately send me back to my childhood, but they helped me realize how this life, the world we live in, just isn't the same anymore.

 

Long gone are the times of playing outside, or even just walking to your destination. Long gone are the many sounds and smells of things outdoors. We were given five senses that God figured we needed to survive as a human race. During this recent adventure, these same five senses came alive with passion, yet sadness.

 

What began as a simple way to get some exercise by walking to and from work, turned into an invigorating and exquisite adventure. Let me recap some of these things we all seem to be missing while we drive everywhere we need to go, when we live with earplugs firmly planted inside of our ears, or the things we miss while looking down at a cell phone for what amounts to be hours in a single day. Perhaps you can remember a time when you experienced some of these same phenomena's, of what we called in the old days.... the outdoors.

 

1.) The sound of rain on an umbrella while underneath it

2.) The smell of that rain on the different matter in which it falls and soaks itself into

3.) Fresh air breezing by your skin

4.) The sound of sand under your running shoes on the sidewalk

5.) The familiar and particular smell of a myriad of different weeds that you once played in

6.) The look of a dark tree trunk against a green grassy landscape

7.) The fact that your feet can literally take you anywhere you want to go

8.) Being wet from the rain (including getting a soaker or two) (You do know what a soaker is don’t you?)

9.) The thought of pushing yourself just a little further so you can say "you did it"

10.) The many sights to see along your walk; people's smiles, colourful flowers, running streams

 

The list is exhaustive and could never be contained here. Some of the simple pleasures in life are taking notice of the land we live in. It appears that we may be headed down a road that includes none of the above. It appears that perhaps the only things that we will eventually be sensing will be from electronic devices and computer generated imagery. What a sad place to live in when the world will no longer know what cursive handwriting is. They have already begun to take this out of our schools. What will happen to our electronic world when we simply run out of resources to power what we need to communicate with, to live? Will we be submerged into the dark ages where hieroglyphics will be our only means of talking to each other? Will our children's children ever experience any of the things we have grown up with?

 

I understand it is an evolving world, that times do change, and that the things I speak of will eventually be called classics, or historical. I welcome change, but contrary to most people, I welcome the reverting of a society back to the basics, where playing outside, skipping in the rain, picking worms and playing in dirty creeks were the ways of life. I would be remised if I didn't at least try and hold on to what seemed so normal at one time, but now seems so fragile and at risk of being erased forever.