We were at a mini-festival and the child won one of those expanding plastic ball-things.
After my mind had stopped complaining about how much plastic tat there was in the world, and after the kids had moved on to something else, us grown-ups started playing ‘catch’ with it. They’re pretty cool – a clever design that seems to visibly breathe, as it collapses and expands.
Then a random little toddler came past with his family and his eyes practically left his head. We gave it to him to play with (if I hadn’t been certain of nuclear meltdown from my daughter, I’d have let him keep it 😂) and it’s fair to say, he was absolutely mesmerised.
It seemed clear that he’d never experienced anything remotely like this in his entire short life and all of us—our gang; his gang—watched with big smiles on our faces as he practically swam in the experience; new neural pathways opening up somewhere inside his head and a look dawning on his happy little face that said, “This is it. Life is going to be brilliant!”
😮🤯
After he’d gone (casting looks over his shoulder the entire way), it was funny to observe that each of us, at some point or another, picked the ball up again and had a proper look at it.
The toddler had taught us (as children so often do) that this wasn’t just another bit of plastic to play with briefly and discard, before heading back to the bar, it was evidence of the wonder we can experience when we slow down and allow our senses to be completely blown by how awesome this thing we call life, is.
Something so little, so simple, and yet everything around me right now—the keyboard I’m typing on; the computer that produces the words; the distributed network that allows my ideas to be sent anywhere in the world at the touch of a button; language itself, FFS—is an absolute miracle to behold, and it’s so easy just to take it for granted.
And that’s before we get to the miracles of the natural world!
It may sometimes feel like life’s out to get you, but slow down for a moment and appreciate everything around you, with the wonder of a child.
💟
Giles
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Giles P Croft
This one follows on from that one 👆🏻