Marvelous Revelations-From the Mouths of Babes

Posted on by Ron Dawson

imahni-blueMy daughter never ceases to amaze me. As a 14 year old teen, there are times when she drives me crazy. She can remember a conversation we had seven years ago when she was seven, but can’t remember to turn out the light when she leaves the bathroom (even now, as I write this, the downstairs bathroom light is illuminating without a soul in the room. Argh, the frustrations of a dad).

But, those little annoyances aside, I love her tremendously and I’m very proud of her. Every now and then she say or write something profound that makes me stop in my tracks. Last week she’ll wrote a blog post on her private blog (friends and family only) that really impressed me. So much so that I decided to make it a guest blog post today. It pretty much speaks for itself.

Everyone is upstairs at the moment, however, stealing away for a few moments I have decided to finally write a blog post after a very long lapse in my writings. Tonight I have come to a marvelous revelation that we as a people, see, hear, and say too much. I have come to realize that I talk too much. Also, I realize that I listen too much and even, write to much. Therefore, I have decided to be very choosy about what I publish and what I say (though this will take some doing). Not only that, but I am going to do my best at appreciating silence for what it is, instead of writing it off as the absence of noise.

Another revelation that I have discovered tonight is how ignorant I have been of celebrities and those in the spotlight. I began to read Miley Cyrus’ autobiography. As I was reading, I found that this person has a mind, a soul, and a heart with big dreams. She’s not just there for my entertainment. I often thought that I could judge “stars” based solely on verbs I read in articles, their press interviews, and pictures of their clothing choices. But I’m finding that I can’t. I don’t know why they committed that action. I don’t know why they are wearing that. Though they may have said something in an interview, maybe we were just asking the wrong questions- superficial questions that don’t define who he or she is. I’m surprised and humbled at my own foolishness. I don’t intend to forget this.

Already this post is rather long, but I do want to express one last point. I have come to yet another realization, through the help of a YouTube video (see below). That is that everything in our world is truly amazing and I am constantly missing it. As I was sitting in the car on the way home I thought, “Wait a minute, I am sitting in a chair, and I am moving. I don’t even know how this thing works. I don’t know why it’s moving, don’t really care to,  but wow! Oh my goodness, is it not amazing that man was even able to figure out how to make a machine move with a push of a peddle and help from a steering wheel? Or the fact that I can call someone a thousand miles away and they can hear me through an itty bitty little piece of plastic and some wires. How amazing is that? I am learning to stop and look at things simply. I don’t try to explain to myself why it’s perfectly easy and ordinary that I can send a text and someone miles away can receive it. I just look at like, wow, this is really happening and I am alive to see it. Not only that, but this is a millionth of the incredible things that people can do with technology today. We live in a fascinating world and I didn’t even know it. How pathetic is that? I’m so glad that God told me to wake up and smell the roses. Life is good.

http://www.youtube.com/v/UN0MpBQG3-E&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0x5d1719&color2=0xcd311b

Creative Director at Dare Dreamer Media. Producer and host of Radio Film School, a story-driven, documentary style podcast for filmmakers and creatives in the vein of This American Life, RadioLab and TED Radio Hour.