JONIZZLE

I've posted before about Plato's quote, "Time is the moving image of eternity," before. I am never good at explaining this, but in a nutshell, the Universe/Time can be considered a series of events, which when viewed as singular instances, are "frozen in time," and therefore eternal (because they have no past, no future, just 'are'). And when one recognizes this as it happens, it's like seeing perfection, because in a roundabout way, things eternal can be considered perfect (just go with me here).

So a very few amount of times in life, I feel like I've witnessed this. Today laid claim to one of those times.

I was standing in line at a store, waiting to make an exchange. Staring into space, I could all of a sudden feel everything in the room in a slow motion. I saw the expression on each face, felt the ground beneath my feet, heard the intro to Frou Frou's Let Go play on the store speakers. It was there and gone in an instant. But I saw it. And it was beautiful.

And it's kind of funny you know? Because watching people holiday shop while you're standing in a long line with aching feet shouldn't be something to be thrilled about. But it was. And I'll always be happy when I can truly witness all that there is in a single moment in time.

After that happened, I thought about what it was that I did see. We all know the argument about the commercialization of Christmas, as well as my attempt to not be a victim of the consumer culture, but hey. Buying a gift for someone can be an attempt to show you care. That you've taken the time to think about them for a little bit. So seeing all of these people give into commercialism, but perhaps doing it because they love their friends and family, well, that might be ok. Frou Frou was a nice touch on the moment too. It felt like I was in Garden State.

Lastly, I was standing in line to exchange some jeans that I shouldn't have been able to because a) I had no receipt b) no tags were on the jeans c) the jeans had been washed once and the manager could tell, BUT I was very very nice about it. I completely understood the manager not allowing me to exchange it and I told her that. As I was leaving, she walked to the front of the store and called me out and said she would do the exchange for me this one time, because I had been so nice. So kids, it pays to be nice and understanding.

Afterall, were one big human nation. What else can/should/could we do than help each other out? A little love and compassion, empathy and beauty.

Happy Holidays.