Life is a collection of moments

Life is a collection of moments I saw some work by a street artist the other day and was reminded of a question that someone had asked me. They wondered why anyone would spend great effort on wrapping a gift when it was going to be torn off and thrown away. If you think about it there are parts of our social experience that exist in our memory as pleasant recollections.

The idea of gift wrapping is quit natural for it adds to the giving experience and the fact that it has a short life span will soon will be crumpled paper is unimportant. To the street artist who is creating masterpieces on the sidewalk with chalk it’s of little importance that the wind will soon blow it away. The artist enjoys what he does and gives freely of his time and talent so that the passerbys can take with them an appreciation of the effort and the simple pleasure of a pleasant thought. And so it is with gift giving. After the present is unwrapped the experience of the moment may be the longest lasting gift.