"A child's world is fresh and new and beautiful, full of wonder and excitement. It is our misfortune that for most of us that clear-eyed vision, that true instinct for what is beautiful and awe-inspiring, is dimmed and even lost before we reach adulthood.
If I had influence with the good fairy who is supposed to preside over the christening of all children I should ask that her gift to each child in the world be a sense of wonder so indestructible that it would last throughout life, as an unfailing antidote against the boredom and disenchantment of later years, the sterile preoccupation with things that are artificial, the alienation from the sources of our strength. If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder without any such gift from the fairies, he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement and mystery of the world we live in."
--Rachel Carson
My nine year old took this photo. When he took it I remember asking him why he was taking a picture of sand and he said to me, "Mom, you're just too tall to see what I see."
To which I responded, "What if I kneel?" and he laughed.
This exchange reminded me of at time when a little girl at Cornerspring sat next to the flower bed one spring. I went to her and asked what she was doing, to which she replied,
"Shhhh, I'm listening to the flowers. Can you hear them?"
I told my son this story and he said, "You couldn't could you?"
I answered, "No, but I believed she could."
He smiled and said, "Okay, maybe if you kneel you'll be able to see what I'm taking a photo of. Take another look and I'll try and show you."
Then I saw it. Okay, he had to show me...he saw a face.
Can you see it too?
~~MM
2 comments:
I think I see it.... I really love the sense of wonder children have. I find that they have helped me rediscover that in myself.
Amazing sense of wonder!
Sometimes I can't see what they see, often in fact, but I like to play along and teach them it's ok to see different things.
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