flawless reasoning which forces a conduct becoming unto me to be present so that it may alert me to the things which indeed ( are there ) and as sure as I am born, ( arguable )they are all here, twixt the finery of these words.

...laura, you are touching wisdom on this one melady...existentially veeeery heavy, phenemonologist would agree, something/nothing ever happens UNTIL we are there to see/appreciate it...well said, beautifully said...peace, chaz

Yes, or perhaps, in absence we fail to see what IS there, though in all practicality it is not there in absence. There is something chilling about this, or maybe it's just my dark mood. In any case I see three viewpoints here: the scene and the perspectives of the crowd within it, the scene and the perspective of the individual within it, and then the subject as an observer of the overall scene and of himself. It's also worth noting that when the individual in a crowd situation begins to SENSE something amiss, to sense that he is absent, suddenly he has become present (though the quality might not be good, but still something in him has awakened). Only in presence can he sense nature's hint as she tugs on his shoulder. And only in presence can he proclaim that he has been absent all this time. For my dark mood this does me good, as the first instinct was to say that this wretched world smells only of death and I too have been rotting all this time and continue to do so using 'hopes' as a cheap excuse for perfume...but having read it out, thought it out, SEEN the SCENE with the crisp clean logic, subtle touch of emotion, and soft contemplation with which you have so elegantly presented the realization, I have to thank you Laura, because in this moment I really needed some small droplet of hope amidst this hopelessness.

Feeling disconnected we do not attach ourselves to the scene in which we physically reside. We become oberservers and step back from reality. This becomes a too effective means of escapism and we isolate ourselves even in the midst of others. This is very thougth-provokin'. :)

When the imagination has to take over, indeed something will come up missing! A touch of humor, a bit of sarcasm, a lot of tongue in cheek.

I succeeded in finding this - a new favorite. Your insight and method of giving insight birth always opens my mind. How you're able to do this surely must be some balance of great gift and balance of forethought.