Haibun: Observed

I’ve never seen an atom act differently when I observe it, but it does. I do know I act differently when observed. Knowing I am being judged and evaluated, I inevitably become fixated on the observation. Slowing down or just messing up because I became too intentional, too planned.

Growing up, I walked our country road for miles with no one around, just me for a mile or two. Or I could spend hours down by the creek that ran behind our house and beyond my ability to find its end. I was free without observation, free to engage my imaginations and thoughts.

But now, there are cameras everywhere. Most of us have a few cameras on our phones, our doorbells, around our house, along our bumpers. Every traffic light I come to has a camera on top. The observation is everywhere.

Maybe always on display makes us less of who we are, leaving part of our best selves something in our past when cameras didn’t dominate the world. Maybe the world would be a better place if it wasn’t alway needing to be under the microscope of itself and always being observed?

dried wash left naked

except for the driftwood and 

remains of summer