I am amazed when I look at my hands and know what they can do. I am amazed by incompetent drivers. I am amazed it took me just sixty years to find a wonderful wife. But what a joy it is to watch our cats do nothing. I am amazed by my wrinkles. By things I have said or written -- not always pleasantly amazed. By the world turning under me. That it spins under billions of others I will never know. I am amazed when I look for a phone number and that person calls me. I am amazed when people make up and when they don't. I am amazed by people with prejudices. I am amazed at my own.
I am amazed by selfishness. I am amazed when a stranger helps me. By hospitality. I am amazed by crippling poverty and pointless wealth. And by a hummingbird. I am amazed that some remember me while others don't. I am amazed at an orchestra. By the ugliness of an angry face and the beauty of a smile. I am amazed by what I remember and what I don't. I am amazed by how little I know. By how much some people have done with their lives. I am amazed by wild turkeys. By honest people and those that lie. I am amazed by mountains. By waves. By thick fog and how beautiful the bay is. I am amazed by aspirin. I am amazed I can talk and speak words. I am amazed by the arc on my jump shot. That I can carry a tune ... sometimes.
I am amazed that planes leave the ground and that electricity makes pictures. I am amazed by people who can start a real business. By the minds of Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, and Gary Larsson. At the friendship between James Taylor and Carole King. And that I don't win the New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest every week. I am amazed by Usain Bolt and lightening bolts. By the people who have loved me and those who have not. I am amazed by how long my heart has been faithfully beating.
Now, what I am not amazed by.... I'm thinking; I'm thinking.
With a Perspective, I'm Richard Friedlander.