After a week of life and people watching, I’ve decided to expand this blog’s potential even slightly. As of tonight, along with daily people watching posts, I will be posting quotes that have to do with watching those around you.
Of course that’s not it — simply posting a quote wouldn’t get us anywhere, so we’re going to be expanding on these quotes in posts that are (hopefully, no promises) under 400 words. Brief pieces about what these quotes mean to us and how they can be implemented in everyone’s day-to-day struggle.
After searching long and hard, I’ve found the right quote to kick this feature off with, one by Michael Jackson: “The greatest education in the world is watching the masters at work.”
This whole people watching thing is as much a plan to help me become a better writer as it is to see things more clearly, to make an attempt at really seeing everything around me and taking it all in instead of simply noticing things and forgetting about it. It is by all means an education. I sit in places for minutes or hours and jot down what someone is wearing or what they’re saying not just for the purpose of blogging, but to become a better writer. These pieces are, if nothing else, individual character studies. Examinations of humanity. Some may call it eavesdropping, some may call it creeping — and I wouldn’t argue with them. I drop myself into intimate situations and construct the world around me out of words. What’s the weather like? What’s she wearing? What is his laugh like? What are they drinking?
I gain my education by watching and writing about people…about humanity, the masters of their world. In my week of doing this, I’ve discovered people watching to be as much of an art as it is a hobby, and as much of an education as it is an art. As such, Jackson’s quote is the perfect way to kick off my new daily quote feature.
I hope you enjoy it as much as I do, and as always I appreciate you reading.
The People Watcher 