a spark

We evolve so quickly now.  To think that all the change that we have seen in the past couple hundred years, or especially the last hundred, and compare it to the previous hundreds, it nothing short of amazing.  Here in North America, we have taken so much of what is new, and actually created it, and pushed it through our culture in a way to allow people to grow so fast in ways that would not have been possible before.  Exposure to new thoughts, new worlds, and new comforts, which would never have been dreamed of before.

And with any change, there will be unforeseen consequences, consequences that we may not have intended. Nevertheless, we are here today and a genie can never be put back in the bottle.

I raise these basic thoughts only to compare myself to them. For some time ago, I may have been a rarity, but today likely commonplace.  Because it was in my earliest years of school that teachers noticed something unusual in me.  What sparked their interest was a painting I created of George Washington in front of Mt. Vernon, ax in hand and a cherry tree toppled over.  The content wasn't too alarming, it was the depth of field, the shadowing and 3 dimensions that stood out.  

So the good teachers would label me, and hustle me off with other children from time to time for some sort of special class or another.

The value of that label was not wasted on me, but it should be shared with many many others.  The greatest lesson I got from it was to see that there was always something going on that you did not know about, a different life that you were never aware of that had been running parallel to you the entire time.

If more people understood that, they might be more inclined to change or move out of their present environment if it does not suit them.  And that skill can really make or break a life  Unfortunately, many of us do not share that very important skill.

For me, it was critical to know, it was a key.

The Story of my Life

As with any great tale, it is meaningless without love.

What is it that gives us our own perspective of the world? Why are some consumed and mesmerized by it, while others pass through it without the ability to raise their eyes to see its vast landscape? And of these two types of people who is the better? My captain asked me once off the Pacific coast of California, "If you could be any animal what would it be?" Since we had been sailing for some time, the animals that first came to mind were the creatures I had been seeing, so I said "A dolphin, what about you?" He said "a seagull." Incredulously I said, "you're kidding, you just fly around all day looking for food, you rest on the water or rocks, and it doesn't look like anything is going on behind those little glass eyes." "And the dolphin, well you can see they have friends, the love the sea and even when they are alone, they enjoy the waves and their life in the water. I can't see how you would want to be a bird." And he said "Yes, the seagull will not have as many fine things in life, but with the incredible highs will also come the incredible lows, that the bird will never know."

He was so right.