The Unseeing Few

To See or not to See

I usually walk around with my head upturned, breathing in the evening
sky. The world around never ceases to amaze and inspire me. The various
colours that blend into a vivid cocktail of beauty above me strike me
with all the wonder of a child.
How can anyone not be moved by such a thing?
And yet some aren't. Some walk by with barely an upward glance, unaware
it seems of the splendour that's hangs over them like a fine work of
art, they go along with their eyes focused on the path before them. But
even then they do not take in or understand the joy that lies beneath
their feet, they think nothing of the myriad of colours that form the
leafy carpet of a late autumn evening, they merely crunch and kick the
deep reds and crisp golds that blanket the road ahead. I watch them
curiously.
Is it that they don't care, or do they just not see?
It's not just now either. I've seen them before, these unseeing lot. In
spring they will pass a garden in full bloom, a place of a hundred
different colours and scents and find more interest in their watch than
in the natural magnificence that surrounds them. They will pass under a
tree in full blossom and only see the dog peeing on its trunk.
Are they born this way? Have they ever seen it? Were their parents the
same?
Maybe, it's in the genes. Maybe there are entire families of unseers,
who go about year after year with these grey blinkers on their tired
looking eyes, blinkers that simply will not allow them to see it all.
And their noses, their noses must be blocked with old stale air, making
it impossible for them to breath in the wondrous scents that fill the
new fresh air around them.
Maybe I should write to some scientist type folk, get some research
done on it!
I sit now in my small house doing my usual thing. Sitting on my porch
watching the world go by. This is usually where I see them. They stroll
by, with their weary walks and they expressionless faces, their heads
down. They usually always wear suits. Not that I'm saying all
businessmen are unseers, on the contrary I used to be a businessman and
I have always considered myself a seer of the highest degree. I've seen
all sorts of people, young and old, go past without seeing. It just
happens to be that most of them are wearing suits!
I once had a neighbour who I used to talk to on occasion and he was an
unseer. I discovered this when one afternoon I happened to comment on
how wonderful it was to be awoken by the melodious sound of birdsong
and he simply cocked his head to the side, frowned and said 'There are
birds in the morning?' I should have known really when, shortly after
he moved in, he ripped out all the plants and trees in his garden and
paved over the lot.
I don't think I'll ever understand them. I don't think we have the same
brains. There must be something in my brain that they simply haven't
got, or maybe it's the difference between someone having an artistic
soul and someone else looking at a painting and saying 'yeah but its
just colours, it's not of anything!' or reading a piece of poetry or
prose and saying 'yeah but it doesn't rhyme!'
I don't understand scientific stuff and I don't try to, It's not in my
nature so there's no point in me trying to force it into my system when
all my system wants to do is go out and watch the sunset over the trees
and yet I feel like these unseers need to get some of the sunset into
their system whether it's in their nature or not. It'll do 'em good I
know it will. I've never known anyone one who saw the beauty say it
didn't do 'em some good.
One of these days I'm gonna go round like a dustman and collect up all
the unseers and dump 'em in front of a glorious sunrise and wait there
until they get some of it in their bloodstream. Hell I'll leave 'em
there until it does. Or maybe I'll push their faces into a bunch of
freshly picked flowers and hold it their until they can smell them!
Hehe I may have gotten a little bit obsessed with it I think, but I'm
passionate, it's another part of being a seer. I breathe it all in and
it infuses me with life and love and emotions and stuff, it's like an
elixir... The Elixir of Life! Some say it doesn't exist, but I say OF
COURSE IT DOES! Look around you at all that life has to offer, It is in
everything you see, each leaf that tumbles to ground on a bright
autumnal morn, each flower that emerges newborn from the earth to bathe
in the sunlight of a new spring. It's in every drop of water that
travels the long path of a river to finally cascade over a cliffs edge
in a glorious waterfall.
Mother Nature must be proud, hell I know she can be a bitch sometimes
but why shouldn't she? Look what some of us are doing to her house!
Hmmm... I know, I know, mad old man rambling! I've heard it before...
still, just because I'm rambling doesn't mean I'm not speaking the
truth, giving you something to think about. It is an amazing feeling to
stand in an open field looking up at the vast clear sky and simply
breathe in the beauty of it all, to feel the space and hear all the
sounds that natures orchestra can provide, or to watch the ocean,
listening to it's own song as each wave crashes on the waiting shore. I
tell you it will do you the world of good, I have been doing it all my
life. If that's not enough proof enough I shall be turning a rather
respectable age of 111 next Tuesday and I consider my seer status
entirely responsible. I see everything and I've never felt
better!
Ralph Dundersoul.

Obituary in The Evening Herald.
Wednesday the 22 September saw the passing of Ralph Dundersoul at the more than respectable age of One Hundred and Eleven. Mr Dundersoul, who is survived by his sons Patrick and Robert, his 8 grandchildren, 35 great grandchildren and 9 great, great grandchildren, was taken from this mortal coil when he was struck by a bus whilst crossing Delaware Street. His last words were 'I never saw it!'