E.B. is credited with saying, “Always be on the lookout for the presence of wonder.”
Wonder is everywhere, and we wonder about everything.
The word wonder used as a noun refers to an incredible person or thing, or a feeling/emotion equal to a feeling of surprise or awe. It can also be a reaction to something strange, new, or grand.
The verb wonder means to be curious about something or to feel amazed.
From 1988-1993, Nell Marlens and Carol Black explored the concept of wonder by creating The Wonder Years, a TV show focusing on the lives of Kevin Arnold and Winnie Cooper and their experiences growing up in the late 60s and early 70s. Kevin and Winnie witnessed the first moon landing, first love, and the horrors of Vietnam from the innocent perspective of children.
From 1993-2000, Michael Jacobs and April Kelly carried on the search for wonder with Boy Meets World. We experience wonder through the eyes of young Corey Matthews, Shawn Hunter, and Topanga Lawrence. In an especially dramatic episode, Corey, and Topanga view Van Gogh’s Starry Night at a museum. It’s one of her favorite paintings. When she asks Corey what he sees, he makes jokes and wanders off. Another boy steps up and articulates what Topanga is feeling about Van Gogh’s sense of wonder at the vastness of the universe and the protective blanket of stars. It brings up the question, “Does your soulmate have to share your sense of wonder, or can you learn to recognize wonder through each other’s eyes?”
What creates a feeling of wonder?
Holding the hand of someone you love, hearing a baby laugh or a kitten purr, seeing someone smile, smelling a flower, or tasting a strawberry fresh from the vine?
Have you ever held up a leaf and realized its veins perform the same function as human veins and arteries? Yet plants don’t have brains to tell their veins what to do. They don’t possess consciousness or feel pain the way animals do. Instead, they use electrical and chemical signals to communicate, process environmental information, and make decisions about defense. They also have memories. I don’t know how we know these things, but we do. Are we smarter than nature?
Have you ever looked at snowflakes or fingerprints under a microscope? Science tells us that no two are alike. We accept it as normal, but still, snowflakes and fingerprints are sources of wonder. How can this be?
Hearts beat and lungs breathe in and out without being reminded until they don’t, but humans have created reminders – machines that shock our hearts back into rhythm or push air in and out of our lungs. I’m not sure which is a more poignant example of wonder.
Things we see and do every day and take for granted should be sources of wonder.
I wonder why they aren’t.
Frances Joyce is the editor, publisher and head writer for This Awful Awesome Life. She is the author of three books, Dancing in the Rain, His Life’s Story, and Everything in Between.