I didn't notice how beautiful the world is until I did, and it changed everything.
From A World Worth Saving, one of 296 sayings written by John Sarris over thirty years.
From Alfred’s journal
Rain all morning, and I sat it out under the eave of the Petersons' garage with nothing to do but look at the driveway. I have crossed that driveway a thousand times. Yesterday I saw that the oil stain by the downspout goes green and violet when the water runs over it, and that the water runs in three channels, always the same three. For years I thought beauty was somewhere else and that my business was getting to it; I was a great traveler of a bird, and a poor looker. I didn't notice how beautiful the world is until I did, and it changed everything, though what it changed is not the world, which is exactly as grubby as it was. Switch came by at noon and asked why I was staring at a puddle, and I could not think of an answer that would have satisfied him.
He reads what you tell him and writes a page of his journal back, with a few of these chosen for you. It costs nothing and asks for nothing.
Have it on something
More like it
- Whether from cloud, cliff, or crest of wave, water only has to fall to enchant us.
- Plant your flowers, as God does, with a careless hand and a loving eye.
- The feet in warm sand restore a flagging spirit like no salve or caring hand.
- Breathe in the sea and keep its rhythm in your heart.
- A bee that starts building a hive won’t work long alone.
- It is hard to look at the stars and worry about what people think of you.