Awareness

Ask yourself, 'Why am I seeing and feeling this? How am I growing? What am I learning?' Remember: Every coincidence is potentially meaningful. How high your awareness level is determines how much meaning you get from your world. Photography can teach you to improve your awareness level. --Ansel Adams (1902-1984) American photographer and environmentalist 

This quote reminds me of my literature professor in college, George Colby. We affectionately called him 'Old Man Colby.' I remember him walking into class on the first day and without much introduction writing in large letters on the board, "L = C". He then proceeded to explain to his sleepy, apathetic gathering of nineteen year olds that "Life equals Consciousness." It's a good thing he didn't ask us to finish that equation; I think a few in there might have suggested that life equals cerveza. I really don't remember many lectures from college, but a lot of the things he said to us remain with me today. Something about Old Man Colby got to me. His passion for literature, for ideas, for life -- was infectious. He challenged us to read critically, think deeply, and constantly ask questions. Here it is twenty years later, and now I'm on the other side of the lectern; and Old Man Colby continues to challenge me.