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Spring may only just be asserting itself but I am already sneezing and itching.
Though sneezing is not necessarily seasonal, insect bites certainly are but usually they don’t become a feature until much later on!
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Sunny, early Spring days are to be appreciated, so we went for a drive on Friday, intending to head for Vermont until a signpost reminded me that we were expecting a maintenance service in the afternoon.
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So we shortened our trip,
.. heading up to Salem…
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…past the osprey nest.
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Spring sometimes arrives in too much of a rush.
But not this year.
Despite the sneezing and itching!
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The floor of the woods was still visible.
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Why do I like it that way?
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Dark and mysterious is good too.
It’s just different and variety is the spice of life, is it not?
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That was something I was told very early in life and I have always found it to be true.
I was also urged to:
“Do as you would be done by!”
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Two such very simple lessons which, if people could only follow, would make life on our planet so very much pleasanter.
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Why is someone different a threat?
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People who are different have other ideas that can sometimes be very helpful.
Exchanging ideas is how we (could) progress.
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Unless other people try to force me to live the way they do, why should I care what they do?
We all have exactly the same needs.
But the human spirit is competitive as well as distrustful.
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Why must we categorise ourselves?
Why is it necessary to be better than someone else? And what does that even mean?
If you are wizard at math, or a champion golfer, does it make you a higher calibre of human being?
Maybe competition is what drives us to improve, but wouldn’t it be nice if we just tried harder anyway, for our own benefit?
If we thought more about what we do and about how it will affect others, how much nicer life would be.
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Modern society loves to think itself evolved, but all that has happened in many thousands of years is that we have increased our knowledge and become less capable of dealing with it.
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Another of my very short simple pronouncements, which is all I have time for today, you’ll be glad to know!
Our shortened trip on Friday took us to Carter’s Pond and I’ll post some of those pictures tomorrow.
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Thank you, Carolyn, for the flow of your thoughts. As always, I love all the photos of the trees, the sky, and the roads leading somewhere. Do you remember the famous writer’s words about being different? He wrote: “You have to be odd to be number one.”
Joanna
I am also very itchy at the moment. I have been taking antihistamines and covering myself in E45 Itch Cream, but I suspect it is a flare-up of my pityriasis rosea, which comes and goes but has no cure. I have never been a competitive person, which is why I have no interest in any sports or team games. I just don’t care who wins, including me.
Best wishes, Pete.