Appreciating the “Moment” in Different Ways

I have seen this picture recently, but I shared an article this morning titled, “Woman Without Phone Camera Out, Is Now an Internet Sensation“, that featured an image that went viral of one woman in a crowd (seemingly for a movie premiere) without her phone out.  The below tweet received over 12,000 retweets:

Quickly, people started to talk about how she was “living in the moment”, which in some ways means having your phone out, would say the opposite.  Now I am not criticizing the woman for not having her phone out, similarly to how I am not criticizing the people that are trying to get the picture. What I am trying to do is challenge the notion that having your phone out doesn’t necessarily mean you are not “living in the moment.” For example, check out this video of Lebron James taking a selfie with young fans at a pre-season game.

The “moment” was not only being so close to the current best basketball player in the world, but actually getting the image with the phone (Lebron actually invited a young fan to sit on the bench with him as well!).  Those kids will not only never forget that moment, but they will also have a reminder of it for the rest of their lives. I know that I have been to games, and taking a picture so up close to someone you are in awe of, is part of the moment for me. To capture my own image because I have the opportunity to be there.

This idea reminded me of the below picture of Malia Obama taking her own picture at President Obama’s initial inauguration.

What I find powerful from this image, is that with such a historic event, and probably some of the best photographers in the world capturing photographs, Malia is creating her own moment by capturing the event from her perspective. Sometimes the creation of the image from your viewpoint is how the “moment” is being created.

Another example I want to share, is a short video that I find so powerful.  Check out the daughter identify her dad who has just shaved through getting up close and smelling him.

Look at the father’s eyes and how they immediately well up. But also listen to the mother cry in the background while she is capturing this incredible moment. Not only are they both totally in the moment, but because of the ease of access to capture this, allows them to relieve this moment over and over again. There is a huge power in this, and I am sure that they will cherish it forever.

Watching this video, reminds me of my dad’s willingness to embrace new technologies and capture moments such as Christmas. ‘ As a child who was probably five or six years old, the only reason I remember this Christmas is because of my dad’s willingness to capture this moment.  The video below may be insignificant to you, but to see myself through my father’s eyes, especially now that he has passed away, has created something that I cherish a great deal.

What we have to realize is that how we live in the “moment” is not something that should be determined by someone else, but it is deeply personal.  How I create memories is unique to me, as it is to each one of those people in the initial people that I have shared.  What do I know is that sometimes being able to relive those moments with something I can view through images or video, is something that I cherish a great deal, and sometimes, more than the original moment, because it brings back things to me that I wouldn’t experience if it wasn’t captured in the first place.

If you think a picture is worth a thousand words, what do you think the video below taken by my dad is worth to me?

Let’s just realize that there are different ways we can appreciate the moment we are living in right now.

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