Today, while I was out on a long drive, I looked out the car window. While I was admiring the view, something dawned upon me. I was looking up at the blue sky and I realized that it had been a long time since I had seen the blue sky. Too long, really. The scene enthralled me. Although it may seem too common, but for me it was too rare. The patches of dark clouds on the sides and the blue sky in-between, with the Sun behind the dark clouds. It was a beautiful moment, one that I was smart enough not to capture with a camera. No, I'm not joking.
Cameras v. Eyes
I had the phone in my pocket, if I wanted, I could've taken a picture of the moment pretty easily. But I felt like that was something like a... cop out. It's not everyday I get to experience something like that. A blue sky with gentle breeze blowing and no traffic on the road. It's what my aesthetic sense craves. It happens when you don't get to see blue sky everyday.
A picture is worth a thousand words.
In my opinion, photography is a powerful way of expressing your emotions. It should be reserved for powerful moments. Not for the ones that don't come too often. I mean, what's the point of taking a picture of an everyday meal? Sure, you may post it on the internet and get some hits, but that picture is totally worthless. Compare the image of an everyday meal with the picture that shows the hoisting of the US Flag on Iwo Jima. The above mentioned quote, in all it's glory, applies to that picture of the Flag on Iwo Jima. It is indeed worth a thousand words. For instance, it symbolized the victory of the US against Japan. The US people gathered, raised morale of the soldiers and pledged their support more than ever before. All because of one picture.
Sometimes, it is best to capture the moment. What if Joe Rosenthal never took that picture? I'm sure that picture holds significant importance in the US history. If he hadn't taken that picture then the US history would've a void. Not one that you could feel, but one you could sense. Though, this doesn't justify the use of camera to take a picture of every single thing. That's just pointless and waste of memory.
We humans have started relying more on cameras than our own eyes.
With the dawn of the digital age, it's much easy to get lost in computers and cell phones instead of exploring and adventuring. We have been seeing too much of great photography online and thinking to ourselves, Wow, I want to go there some day. The problem is that we never do. You don't have to go to another country to experience beauty. I saw this beautiful sky on a regular drive, for God's sake. Look into the heart of your own country. Camp out underneath the stars. You have my word, it will be nothing short of magnificent.
We have all seen beauty in our own lifetimes. It's possible that we've seen too much of it. But, beauty is nothing if it goes unappreciated.
I can't count the times I have seen blue-skies. Countless amount of times. What was so special in today's that inspired me to write an article, that gave me cause to re-think my everyday activities, my views and beliefs? Today has certainly been a turning point in my life. Normally, I wouldn't believe a word of this if someone told me all about this. But now I do believe it because I've seen it first hand. Which is something all of us need to experience.
The Earth is too beautiful for us. So much so that we cannot even comprehend it's beauty, as a result of which, it's beauty goes unnoticed by us, unappreciated. How could I ever feel that that sky was reeking of optimism? Of hope and inspiration? I may never know. It was a concrete feeling that I had in my bottom of my heart. I lost myself for a second in the beauty of that scene. When I came to my senses, I realized that I was experiencing something so common that it was just too rare.
In today's world, almost all of the people have forgotten that there is beauty in this world. They go about their everyday life under the spell of employment and money, unaware that something magical is passing right by them. They have become slaves of the system. Working and earning money aren't the only things there are to do in life. Pick out your interests, look around, make a list. Then go through them, each and every one of them.
What will happen when these people are in their 60s-70s? Will they still be working? Will they look back on their lives and realize that they have done nothing worthy of telling to their grand-kids? Will they think that they have wasted their entire lives working and earning money instead of doing something that they actually wanted to do? These people have purchased the "American Dream" through a credit-card and are now unable to pay it off. The "American Dream" is supposed to be the ultimate fantasy, yet it is the ultimate nightmare. If only everybody could snap out of their professional lives for once and went on a quest to find themselves, to find humanity, the world would be a much better place.
It was an important moment for me, when I saw that blue sky. It was something out of a dream. I can't find words to describe that scene, really. The blue sky was reeking of optimism. Of hope. Whenever I looked up at that sky, I knew that today was a great day, one that I will remember for years to come.