By Fernanda Cabarcos
I’ve always been fascinated by life, every single aspect of it. I believe this curiosity comes from the way my mom taught me to see the world ; I remember as a young girl we would go for walks and she would stop, point at a tree and say “look at the leafs , look at the way the sun reflects from them, look how beautifully they move, they have life… they are life “ or just looking at the sky we would ponder and admire its beauty for a few minutes, thankful for having the opportunity to be alive and to be present in those moments. Since then I look at every aspect of life in that detailed somewhat romanticized way, I’m glad I do, even the ugly and the bad, they have a purpose , in their own way beautiful for they always carry a lesson with their burdens. As life went on and I grew up, my fascination for its complexity grew along; particularly the way different people experience the same moment, such unique phenomenon and a testament to our individuality.
Picture this: let’s say we are at a wedding, the bride, glowing, radiant with joy, after all she’s been planning this moment her entire life .The groom, nervous, cold feet, thinking “I should be backpacking through western Europe right now”. The best man, torn, contemplating whether or not to profess his love for the Bride when the famous “speak now or forever hold your peace” bit comes up, he knows he’ll take better care of her. A bride’s maid wishing she was somewhere else, anywhere else, this wedding is a reminder of how single she is, a cruel joke from the universe, you see she was the popular one back in High School with the boyfriend in the football team and dates to every dance; this is not how the story should go. The parents of the bride happy she’s moving out and now they can turn the extra room into a meditation oasis; mother of the groom disappointed, her son could have done better, the father is thrilled, he has the hots for Bride’s mom so this means more “family time”.
Like this I could make examples for every guest at that wedding, which when seen from the outside it’s very two dimensional- a happy day full of celebratory toasts and two people happily without any doubt joining their lives until death or divorce does them apart . But when we observe, when we really look and open up to the idea that the world doesn’t revolve around our individuality, that each person carries with them a world of their own, it is then we can have a better understanding of this thing called life, and I believe it also serves as a lesson on empathy, maybe we won’t judge each other so easily and so harshly because in reality we don’t know what lies behind the two dimensional fronts we build. So next time you are out with friends, having dinner with family, at a park, at work, in the bathroom line at a festival, at a funeral, grabbing some froyo with the bestie, on a date, having a beach day with the gang, at the airport waiting for your connecting flight, or you find yourself at a wedding, please do me a favor an look around, take in each moment and each person surrounding you, admire their unique beauty and the way they interact with one another, think of how that exact moment is vastly different from yours. If not , you don’t know all the worlds you might be missing out on.
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| Photo by Julia Muñiz www.gurushots.com/thisisjumuniz |
