December 15, 2024

By Arthur H. Gunther III

thecolumnrule.com

You can feel the Arizona sun even if you have never been there. It irons you, instantly warming like the radiator you brush by in a Vermont country store.

You know this because you have general knowledge. You know that the state has hot, largely dry summers. But you also have, or quickly acquire, visual knowledge when you look at a photo or painting and feel the effects. It is the power of sight.

We look at snow pictures in August, our skin dripping with humidity. We look at faces to gauge emotion, to express empathy in other’s happiness or suffering or the feelings in between. We stare at historical photos to learn, to be amazed, to put ourselves on the Gettysburg battlefield, in the moon landing, with the Wright brothers.

We can read history and learn, we can attempt to feel the moment, yet viewing a film or still photo or descriptive painting can be more magnetic, pulling you in from the audience onto the stage set.

Today’s world is so very visual, especially given Internet photo sharing with a fast-moving stream of images via phone apps.

The result is a constant blast at emotions – up and down, laughing, crying, connecting. So much, so fast. Quicker than reading, each image worth many words.

This is the change we are in, with more to come. Humanity has to hope this rapidity will not numb us to emotion that betters us. It is good to sit awhile, put it in neutral and feel the warming sun.

The writer is a retired newspaperman.

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