The Global Symbol of Pure Enjoyment (Article#15)

"How did I look in the photos?", "Did I miss taking photos, at this location?", "Did I miss capturing all the special moments, of this entire event?", "Did I post or share the selected photos, on my social media accounts?", "How many people viewed, liked and commented under the photos I posted on my social accounts?", "Oh my god! The memory of my smart phone is already full. How could I quickly make the room for new photos? Exactly which photos should I delete?"

As millions of people across the planet have unknowingly made their shiny smart phones the fragile mirrors of their personal and social lives, these questions do keep bothering them throughout the day and sometimes making them to loose their sleep over at night. Isn’t it the most miserable situation that the majority of modern and digitally well-connected world has brought itself into? Do you find yourself trapped in it?

Today, a large portion of the smart phone users have developed a serious addiction. The so-called "feel-good" hormone called Dopamine is largely secreted in their brains only by watching or scrolling through the images and videos posted on social media. Also, most of them do keep capturing the events, people, animals and natural scenary around them through the camera of smart phones. They simply can't keep the photos to themselves at all.

The lead actor Johnny Depp talking to media

On 15th September 2015, at the premiere of Black Mass movie, thousands of fans in Boston (Massachusetts, USA) were eagerly waiting to get the glimpses of the stars, including Johnny Depp. As the stars arrived at the theatre, almost everybody got busy taking their photos. Those few who were standing closer to the roadside barricades simply didn’t miss the ‘golden’ opportunity to take a few selfies with their beloved stars.

Fans seemed to have simply forgotten that they could just look at the stars with their naked eyes and stores their images in their own memories. They were behaving as if they were participating in a fierce photographic contest, without any prize being given to the winners. During those moments, a special photo taken by Boston Globe newspaper’s photographer John Blanding motivated me to write this short article.

In the photo, everybody else is holding smart phones in their hands and most are busy taking photos of the movie stars. An unknown old lady is silently standing out as “The Symbol of Pure Enjoyment”. While fans seemed to have lost the sense of enjoying most-likely-once-in-the-lifetime meeting with the stars, the lady has completely soaked herself in the deep pool of enjoyment, with a serene smile.

Image Courtesy: John Blanding (Boston Globe)
(Click or tap the image to enlarge)

The purpose of this article is to motivate people to keep their sense of enjoyment intact and organic. From the next time you find yourself surrounded by the people busy taking photos, I kindly suggest you to consciously try to pick, detect or single out such person in the whole crowd. While doing the same, it’s quite possible that you’ll regain the sense of pure enjoyment, slowly but surely.

By the way, if there’s going to an encyclopedia about modern human civlization then this photo is definitely going to make its place in the same as this unknown lady has made her place in the hearts of the people across the globe. I'm quite hopeful that this lady will make her special place in your own heart too, no matter if you're addicted to your smart phone or not.