What else do we miss?

In our modern and complex world why do we spend so much time rushing and worrying about our level of productivity? It is almost that we're missing the point. We don't take the time to truly connect with someone else. I almost didn't take the five minutes required to read this article, which made me think about 'What else are we missing?'

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/04/AR2007040401721.html

In one section of this article, it quotes a famous poem:

What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.
-- from "Leisure," by W.H. Davies

In short, a world famous musician dresses as a street musician and masterfully plays in a busy train station. Few notice, and even less stop to listen or donate a few dollars. Interesting to note, children always notice and hear the violinist, but their parents in a frenzy to be "on-time" drag them away and never allow them to stop to see and to really hear.

The article goes on to state, "We're busy. Americans have been busy, as a people, since at least 1831, when a young French sociologist named Alexis de Tocqueville visited the States and found himself impressed, bemused and slightly dismayed at the degree to which people were driven, to the exclusion of everything else, by hard work and the accumulation of wealth.

If we can't take the time out of our lives to stay a moment and listen to one of the best musicians on Earth play some of the best music ever written; if the surge of modern life so overpowers us that we are deaf and blind to something like that -- then what else are we missing?

That's what the Welsh poet W.H. Davies meant in 1911 when he published those two lines that begin this section. They made him famous. The thought was simple, even primitive, but somehow no one had put it quite that way before.

Of course, Davies had an advantage -- an advantage of perception. He wasn't a tradesman or a laborer or a bureaucrat or a consultant or a policy analyst or a labor lawyer or a program manager. He was a hobo."

What this illustrates to me is that we have to become aware and start noticing what matters. Today I had a lot going on, but I took the time to connect with someone at breakfast and with a dear friend at lunch. I then had to stay late at work, but it was worth the time to truly connect with people who matter to me. In our rush to stay ahead and to accumulate more stuff. We often miss the point.

I went to Denver this weekend to see my grandma in the hospital. My family came out in force, so we had to leave the hospital room and go to the waiting room. It was a moment to truly see that my family showed up when it mattered. We all had other plans, but we canceled them to be present and show how much we care.

So next time when you're life is out of control. Start with taking a breath. Connect with someone you love, and notice what's happening around you. You might witness beauty or help someone else who's down on their luck. And small gestures truly do make a difference.