My daughter taught me an interesting lesson yesterday and I thought I should share it.
We were driving along and came to an intersection with a red light when she said, "Wow, look to the left, it's so beautiful."
Now, I looked towards the left and saw... a freeway... some industrial buildings, snow with fringes of yellowed grass. It was really not a scene I would describe as "beautiful."
So I asked, "What do you see that's so beautiful there?"
She replied, "Just look!"
So I began to focus in. Was she talking about the sky above the scene? It was nice, blue with some wisps of clouds. Was it the way the sunlight reflected off the windows of my car? Maybe it was that pretty little mural painted on the side of that industrial building over there in the distance? It had some sunflowers, some light colours, a bit of a mosaic really of images that were quite interesting. Or maybe it was the way the dark red bricks of that one building contrasted with the sleet, gray concrete of it's neighbour? Maybe she was captivated by a car that drove by on the freeway, or by the methodical orderliness of the lines along the road...
Then it hit me. Suddenly I saw how beautiful that industrial scene really was. Suddenly, I was seeing all of these striking images and I wondered, "How could I have been so blind?"
I agreed with her, that really was beautiful. The light turned green and we began to drive and then she said, "Did you also look to the right?"
I hadn't. But, I'll try to remember that for next time.
