I remember an episode of Leave it to Beaver where The Beav (Jerry Mathers) started a diary. After a week he did a quick review to find that every entry showed the same activities:
Went to school.
Ate lunch.
Came back home.
His take was that he was boring and did the same old stuff every day. I think we all recognize the error in his analysis. Likewise I think we all applaud his additional response in seeking change. This could have been the episode where he got stuck in the steaming cup of soup billboard, I am not sure, but I do give him an A+ for effort. Kid was 12 or so and out looking for adventure and fun. Wally (Tony Dow) even tossed a backdoor compliment his way later that evening after Ward (Hugh Beaumont) read him a chapter from the responsibility guidebook.
I always liked The Beav's innocent wanderlust.
My point in all this black and white retrospect is this: I think it is good to be easily impressed. I know I am.
Maybe it's the mellowing and aging process, maybe it's refinement, appreciation of art, or quite possibly that last gram of compassion. I like seeing passion on parade. I love seeing others get after it. It of course being their dreams and goals. The art of putting perspective into play as one rips the present to, one day, shred the future. Seeing that the quality of this now is fully responsible for the manifestation of that now. I adore that innocent energy.
This morning I read this (James Shapiro): "If your mind is dirty you can run 10,000 miles, but where have your gotten? If you go for a one-mile run and you're passionately engaged with the world, who cares about the other 9,999?"
To call that profound would be understating like an Eddie Haskel (Ken Osmond) excuse.
To lasting impressions and profundities then, may they all be as bold as the Beav's. And Mr. Shapiro's.
Go to school.
Eat lunch
Come home.
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