Monday, December 13, 2004

If you're down-and-out, look down .. and out

I had to come to work early this morning. I was consulting on a video shoot for which I had penned the script. The video was to be delivered by two of our marketing honchos from the 6th-floor office of our Chief Marketing Officer.

The darkness of early morning combined with a bitter winter wind did nothing to lift my spirits as I made the five-block roll to work. Neither did the fairly extensive rewrite we had to make once I arrived. But as I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes, I happened to glance out the CMO’s picture window. The darkness was giving away to a pre-dawn gloaming, and the cityscape, dotted with twinkling lights, was shifting from nothingness to silhouette to full view. I was awestruck.

It’s not that Springfield, Ill., has breathtaking scenery (although when she’s dressed up for Christmas, the old girl has the charm of an elderly woman dressed in her finest Sunday go-to-meetin’ clothes). But I’ve always found that an aerial view of the city gives me an immediate sense of peace. I’ve pondered why, and the only thing I can come up is that a bird’s-eye view reminds me that, no matter the chaos in my life, the world keeps on moving along. Traffic rolls on, day turns to night turns to day, and thousands of ant-sized people keep on making a living.

So if you’re overwhelmed, might I suggest elevating your perspective. If you’re afraid of heights, I suppose you’re screwed. But what better time to get over it?

1 comment:

MzOuiser said...

For a minute, I almost felt something like homesickness there. Just for a minute!