This is when looking at typical things untypical- one’s naked eye doesn’t notice much. It sounds confusing. At times it is! And how can two completely opposites suddenly analogous? Well, in some sense they are for sure.
If I had to redefine each word it would come out like this- typical means things we always take for granted while untypical things we always give special attention. As always!
Impossible it may seem, but this time (just for a day) I’d like to claim that both words are reversible. And it is so possible if one is willing to take another angle of a typical thing.
Take a look at this amazing picture of red gumamelas.
It stood here for a long time leafless and blooming yet nobody cared enough except for bees. It has been blooming for weeks now actually but still none of the kids give a notice. Because it is a typical flower they have at home. No big deal. I fancy wild flowers so I will admit being guilty. More than once or a lot of times I felt the same way too. But now it is a WOW!
Last Wednesday, we sent off the kids back to their respective villages to register for another school year. Thankfully we got five days off as well. That is another typical day to thank about - not when you work somewhere else where holiday is rarely enjoyed.
Staying home was not a brilliant idea so we came up doing something else since no kids to take care around. We headed off to explore another village called Kohondaet by an invitation. That was the next day, and a long day.
When we got there I immediately took my camera out to give interest on the many typical things before me. My kids could hear the endless CLICK of my camera while I could hear their audible laughs seeing me shoot images they thought unimportant.
“Click” as I took photo of a marrow’s yellow flowers. Well, if it’s not your shade why bother anyway. I fancy blue but this is it not about color in the first place. It is about appreciating every living thing that creep the ground. If one gives only a usual glimpse then marrow flower will always be a typical plant. But if one tries to give more seeing it beyond comprehension…that’s when marrow aside from vegetables and a loofah turns a beautiful obra maestro to praise the Creator– now untypical. Thank God for this lovely, yellow flower!
“Click!” Another beautiful creation was captured by a sophisticated invention. Now it’s another untypical thing to consider. “Teacher, it’s just a rose!” One kid shouted. “I know” was my silent reply.
It’s true! It is just a rose if one thinks of it only an ordinary rose grown in every home. And again it’s just a rose if one looks at it only from a distance. But when one realizes how this lovely creation is not excluded in every occasion of our lives, and has become a powerful instrument soothing and touching the hearts of many - it’s not just a rose then. And like any other untypical things, it deserves a notice.
“Click!”
“And why chili, teacher?” asked a curious kid. “Nothing!” I said. It was time for lunch so I didn’t entertain such question. Suddenly, one of the kids picked a chili and bit it little by little – obviously to spice up her appetite.
Sometimes or many times (in a conclusive way) it is easy for us to take advantage of every little thing unnoticed. Yet, it is so difficult for us to appreciate every little thing we have – it is so typical of us.
“And why chili, teacher?” The same question can be asked again and again if one will only look at it as a typical spice and not an item to thank for at least. I am not saying you must eat chili to be appreciative or to appreciate chili itself.
Look around you and you will see many little things that you also consider typical (but very useful at times)-taken unnoticed. I will leave it to you to find out. For now, I’d say thanks to chili!
“Ha-ha-ha-ha” the provoking laughs got louder and louder as I took photos of a chicken’s nest with few eggs in. I was not offended but I told my kids I need the photos for my article. Sooner or later, they will read this message themselves. Then we all are reminded that if not for kind chickens to lay eggs there will be no sunny-side-up or omelet or boiled egg or scrambled egg or grilled egg or simply fry egg to enjoy- not to mention those food cannot be cooked or baked without eggs in it.
Here is another click- a Khmer noodle.
This was served to us for lunch –untypical for the insiders to enjoy. Only on special occasions you would come to enjoy such cuisine but this time served as an ordinary lunch. And we all noticed that. But what if ordinary food was served to us? I wonder if they would exert the same attention. I may sound conclusive but I still say… NO, THEY WOULD NOT!
I am speaking for my self. Many times I tend to be less thankful not noticing every little help friends offered – remembering only those extra-miles (BIG) helps I had from friends. And those who had given their littlest yet with sincerity and love were overshadowed by the ungratefulness of mine.
Thanks to generous and grateful people for their characters. They are constant reminders infecting my life to become less grumbling- I am still learning.
“Click. Click,” my last two clicks!
If I had another father with me in his camera, I would assume he’d click the picture above. For one reason is to keep a lasting memory with his kids – that’s so sweet of him. The picture below is impossible to find in his list of photo shots. For one reason, it took me look around curiously to see typical thing unnoticed. And this is what I got.
As these canoes tossed here and then by strong wind, sunk, I can’t help but put in mind the typical life of a fisherman. For the many fish one fisherman had caught, which I had eaten, I now say thank you for this kind of profession.
In a perspective of a person who knows the danger and risk being a fisherman, at the end of the day you would hear him say- I DO NOT WANT TO BE A FISHERMAN! Fortunately there are still a lot of fishermen everywhere so humans can still enjoy fish of all kinds.
This is what I have in mind seeing typical things untypical. After all even typical things are worthy of notice – they are indeed!
Like this one.
And this one.
And even this one.
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