Last Friday, I walked up St. Clair Street to the subway station on Yonge. There was the usual mix of people you find on a sunny spring afternoon: couples out walking their dogs, mothers pushing children in strollers, teenagers chatting about their weekend plans, and workers enjoying their coffee breaks outdoors.
One young lady stood out from the crowd. Where everyone else, myself included, walked with purpose towards their destinations, she stopped every so often to smell the flowers in front of the office buildings. Sometimes it was a cursory little sniff; other times, she stopped and took in the aroma like a connoisseur taking in the bouquet of a fine wine. It didn't seem to matter that she was adding valuable minutes to her journey.
I don't know if anybody else noticed what she was doing, but her actions made me stop and think. It has been said that time is the most valuable resource because once its gone, it's gone. Taking the time to smell the flowers took up a little bit of time, but it seemed to add so much to how the young woman experienced the day. In my books, that is an excellent return on investment.
I have no idea who the young lady was, and I doubt I would recognize her if I bumped into her again, but she had an immediate impact on my day. For the rest of the day, I looked at things with an artist's eyes, noticing beauty in the every day world I normally just rush by.
