“Little we see in Nature that is ours
We have given our hearts away… ”
These lines from Wordsworth’s timeless poem, ‘The world is too much with us”, laments the withering ties between mankind and nature as we get caught up in materialistic pursuits.
Some people just move through life, unaware of all the beauty around them.
Or they are so caught up in themselves or their burdens that they can see only that.
The beauty of the blue skies, the green grass, the crimson flowers, the glorious sunsets ,the wild woods and the lilly ponds are not their concern.
They merely trudge along. They barely live.
And then there are the imaginative ones…the passionate ones, the sensitive ones… The hardly -ever cynical ones.
These are the ones who get excited as the distant thunder rumbles and the clouds darken. They hope for rain, just so that the parched earth can drink deep. They rejoice as the trees soak up and the leaves turn fresh and green.
To the imaginative ones, a train running late or a traffic jam is never a bother. It’s just more time for them to conjure up fascinating images or write poems in their minds.
They find joy in the small things and bask in memories of yesteryear.
And then there is another set of people out there whose senses interplay.
Some see words, letters and numbers in colour. Yet to others, a musical note gives a wiff of the fragrance of a loved one, far away.
And some of them can actually taste the rainbow.
Science calls them ‘synesthetes’.
Synesthetes hear colours, taste shapes, feel sounds and smell ordours associated with memories.
Though unbelievable to many, one of these traits are dominant in some of us.
But one needn’t be synesthetic to stop, stand and admire the beauty around us.
For it’s the ones who really notice the loveliness in little things who are truly happy.
They are the sensitive ones and the creative ones who walk the earth.
They are the ones who notice, and help others take notice.
They make the mundane seem marvellous.
They help to make our beautiful world, more so.
By Annie Cyriac
