I saw something beautiful last night. The night before we leave on a tour is always terrible for me. I can’t pinpoint every little thing that stresses me out, but I think just the fact that I have to leave the next day freaks me out. And it happens every single time I have to leave. Anyways, last night I had to run out and see someone for a couple hours before I headed home to finish packing. I get very stressed, and frankly, very self-absorbed in these moments of stress thinking only about the tasks that I need to get done before I can feel okay about leaving. I was speeding home overwhelmed and over exhausted.

It was nearly 2 in the morning and somehow my eye saw something. I noticed a small, white bird sitting on the power line as I drove by. I’m not sure why it stuck out to me, or why I would see it on a night that my mind was already so cluttered, but there was an old barn owl sitting on the power lines. There was a perfect spot for me to pull over, and I did. I sat and watched this beautiful bird stare down in the grass below. He would occasionally dive down probably trying to catch some field mouse in the tall grass below.  He didn’t seem to be having too much luck this night because he kept returning to the power line for a better view. After about 5 minutes the bird started to fly away. I had my windows down and my car off so see if I could hear him “hoot.” You couldn’t hear a thing. The bird flew off silently. It’s wings were perfectly silent. It was beautiful.

It wasn’t some incredible experience. Just simple. Just beautiful. And on a night like last night, it was exactly what I needed.

(IMAGE FROM WIKIPEDIA.COM’s ARTICLE FOR “BARN OWL”)

I can’t help but wonder how many times we are so self-absorbed that we miss things like this. Most people live their selfish lives only looking at their own problems. They often miss the fact that there is beauty in the world around them. They often miss the fact that there are other people in the world around them. I am definitely guilty of this, but I think we can all try to look around more.

Have you seen the movie Patch Adams? Do you remember the old guy Arthur in the insane asylum that kept asking Patch how many fingers he was holding up? I loved some of the things Arthur said here. Copied below is some of the transcript I found on the internet. (If you have no clue what this means… go watch the movie. Patch Adams and Robin Williams is the main dude)

Arthur:  How many do you see?
Patch:  There are four fingers, Arthur. 
A: No, no, no. Look at me. 
P: What? 
A: Y-You’re focusing on the problem. If you focus on the problem, you can’t see the solution. Never focus on the problem. Look at me! How many do you see? No, look beyond the fingers. How many do you see? 
P: Eight. 
A: Eight. Eight. Yes! Yes! Eight’s a good answer. Yes. See what no one else sees. See what everyone else chooses not to see… out of fear and conformity and laziness. See the whole world anew each day. Ah, the truth is, you’re well on the way. If you didn’t see something here… besides a crazy, bitter old man… you wouldn’t have come in the first place.

There’s beauty in the world that still needs to be appreciated. There’s beauty in this world worth seeing… even when you’re having a bad day. Look around.