Quote:

---

This is an interesting thread. I am glad Orchid started it. You know we all want to live our lives to the fullest and that also means not wasting time. But what we fail to see is that when we look at others, we see them through our eyes, not theirs. We want them to be us inside of them. There's a poem about this that I'll have to find and post here.

I have people in my family that live in their own little small world and are happy. It would drive me up the wall to live like that but I am glad they are happy within their world.

They are not particularly concerned about the larger world, nor do they care to take part in many things that are outside family news and gatherings. While this is hard for me to do, I understand it's their world.

Orchid maybe you could try to see their world and what makes it so special to them or try to explain your thoughts and feeling with them. Perhaps seeing each others through different eyes and feelings would help you out with those people.

---

I believe so much that a person has the potential of...several lives, depending which path/turn they take. But they must take that step. No one can make do it.

A good example of small world is my mother. Yet when she was young, she had the courage (or just wanting to get married in a peaceful country) to leave mainland China and her family...forever..and marry my father in Canada who she never knew in body/person. Only by mail. Yes, she was a picture bride.

She doesn't know much English after over 50 yrs. in Canada ..and probably never will. Her world is just my dad and her family. She doesn't participate in any clubs, girlfriend regular activities,etc. Is she happy? No, not fully happy because of her isolation (linguistic, etc.). She has gr. 10 education. She's probably moderately satisfied since she has a caring hubby, a stable, safe home, all her children and grandchildren are healthy, leading productive lives.

She made a huge step as a young woman. And since then, she's stayed safe but tried to stay strong in mind. I think having 6 children was too much for her at times. She TRIED to keep her world safe, but her kids kept dragging her down alleyways she hadn't even witnessed.

I see in my mother, profound huge potential that went underground/abit awry. She has a natural mathematical ability that contrasts sharply to my father's more poetic / artistic tendencies (which he never excercised as a family man. Only when he was younger prior to marriage...)

It is possible the greatest beauty that my mother must remember in her world...was when she first met her hubby for the first time, her babies when they are very young..

The manifestations of their untapped natural talent..I guess got transferred to us...while it makes me happy, it also makes me abit wistful. I suppose it can create tremendous drive in a child to carry that torch, for the next generation to live their lives in fullness and hope.

But I know my parents are grateful to Canada to raise their family without upheaval of Communist Chinese rule.

So maybe in retrospective this example is abit lousy.

But I will admit all my long-standing close friends, all of them, love to learn and explore their world in different ways.