The Backroads: Life: a new Hart baby

By Sean Hart
Saturday, August 22, 2009 11:22 PM PDT

Life. What a weird, spontaneous, constantly changing condition we all experience.

Through ups and downs and ins and outs, we travel amid a sea of unknowns, clinging to a nominal amount of knowledge like a life preserver. We know little of that which we do not experience. We experience little of that which is possible.

In the galactic scheme of things, our existence is minute, our lives trivial. Yet, individually experienced, each morning is a new adventure — no matter how many have travelled the path before us.

All sights, smells, sounds and tastes are new to everyone once. The first time we touch any object is, of course, novel and may not even resemble the sensation we feel later in life.

The world is in constant flux, constant motion. As we grow, the earth continues to do the same.

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We all begin as babies — innocent and naive with a clean slate ready to assimilate experiences as we experience the world. We were all held and fed, bathed and blanketed by a caretaker. We all owe our lives to someone.

Yet, this time of complete dependence, of complete inability, eludes our memories. Even to young children, infancy is as far away from their recollection as it will be when they are wrinkled. An elderly person would have better luck retracing their life decades back than a child would remembering just a few years prior.

At least as far as reminiscing of one’s own infancy. Many adults can recall vividly the simple beauty of being an infant — through their children.

We all experience it. No one remembers it. But parents relive it. They experience and remember it again. They are privy to witnessing firsthand life’s miracle of recreation.

Even to a bystander (I have no knowledge of fatherhood), the exceptionality of the birth of a child weighs far more than the little one does — or ever will, for that matter. The look in the parents’ eyes while staring intently at the life they created, their reaction to its sounds (and smells) alludes to something more meaningful than their entire lives preceding.

But to hold that newborn piece of life — as I held not-even-day-old Jaxon Hart (my buddy’s son, no relation) last week — is to experience a certain simplistic, natural beauty beyond the realm of recollection. The significance within the tiny, insignificant body is instantly recognizable. Its importance is unforgettable.

Life. What a beautiful, transcendent, awe-inspiring event to experience.

Lifestyle Editor Sean Hart can be contacted at SeanH@argusobserver.com. The views and opinions expressed in this column are not necessarily those of the Argus Observer.