Micro-Universes

View of Lake Pontchartrain from Bucktown Marsh Boardwalk

One of my favorite things is how amazing and wonderful and diverse the interests and hobbies available to all of us are.

Walking along the shore of Lake Pontchartrain, I have seen fencing clubs, drone obstacle course clubs, parasailing, windsurfing, bikers, joggers, runners, walkers, bird watchers, ultralight aircraft, fishermen, Tai chi practitioners, skateboarders, photographers and sketch artists.

Last week, I learned that you can get a degree in poultry science from Mississippi State. I never knew!

The world is full of universes (universii?) that most of us know nothing about.

It is so easy to get dragged down into the ugliness of a few domains that remain contentious. (And I know I have to enter those domains and fight against the ugliness that they contain. I accept my civil and civic and moral and ethical responsibility to advocate for those who cannot advocate for themselves, and to advocate for a fairer more just world.)

But there is so much more to think and talk about than politics and religion.

Art is diverse and endlessly fascinating. I was in a gallery in the French Quarter in New Orleans in May that features works done using a technique called impasto, which uses thick layers of paint to create three dimensional images. The works in this gallery are beautiful and if I am ever rich, I will buy something from there.

I have started listening to music and artists that I have no familiarity with to learn something about all the musical genres I don't know.

I try to read books that have been translated from another language to try to gain insight into other cultures through fiction written in that cultures' native language.

There are crafts I know nothing about. And games I have never played. And hobbies I have never heard of.

Even if many of the universes are not interesting for me, hearing a person who is passionate talk about their passion is still an enlightening and interesting conversation.

And who knows? By listening to someone talk about a hobby or job or interest that I know nothing about, I may find a new passion of my own.

I know I can't live long enough to learn all there is to learn about this world I live in, but I am going to try harder to be open to learning all I can about all the magic that surrounds all of us every day.

I am going to try harder to keep seeing the magic, the wonder, the beauty. Because it is always there if I remember to look for it.