Trials and Travels

Today I learned the true meaning of the word "necessary." Looking back, I realize that I am always preoccupied with spending my time in the most efficient and mechanically productive ways - no unnecessary waiting, dawdling, standing, and even speaking. But lots of valuable things can be described as unnecessary. People tell stories about old architecture, statues, and figures. We pay money to listen to them - hours can be devoted to listening to a tour guide talk while looking at artifacts and buildings that are often striking and beautiful but don't really do anything for us - we still have our schoolwork, our jobs, our obligations to go back to. People write down their feelings. In blogs for example. None of this is necessary. But really, is necessary all that related to visible outcomes? Shouldn't necessary mean doing things that further happiness, which sometimes means letting yourself stand and gaze at awesome artifacts without worrying about time or taking a picture of it to show your family...

On this trip I've also learned the value of a photograph. My camera's battery was dying during our visit to the Salisbury Cathedral, and I was forced to pick and choose which photos to take, and how many. I had to think about which sights I did not want to forget, which sights could be forgone or reproduced with the same relative visual enjoyment. If I was limited to a few photos, I had to make all of them count. I had to take each one at the angle and zoom and lighting that would make the picture beautiful and memorable, because it had to deserve to be taken.