We Only See What We Want To See

Grocery store bulletin board. I only noticed it this year, after entering that store for more than five years. It's right there, next to the entrance.

We scan life. We only see what we want to see. Example. We don’t take the first available seat when we enter the bus, because we don’t want to sit next to him or her. It could be a train. No contemplation at all. The eye knows what the mind wants so it takes half a second to make that decision and we move up the aisle to avoid him or her. 

We scan life. We only see what we want to see. That is why I never noticed that the corner grocery store has a bulletin board. Bad example, I think because it was not my intention to see bulletin board, then avoid it. I did not see it because I didn’t know that bulletin boards still exist. Life is digital. Bulletin boards are in our phones now, all kinds: the good, the bad and the ugly. Do schools still have bulletin boards? Highly unlikely because students are phone addicts. They have three names Tammy Jones @tammyjones.ca.  Tammy gets all personal and official messages from her phone.

Some community halls had a bulletin board policy. You couldn’t nail a notice on the board unless it had the community hall stamp. If you did, it would be taken down. They didn’t want people to post questionable notices that compromised the community’s good name.

Although cellphones are a way of life, there are still things we see in public, but pretend not to see them. We scan life.

Nonqaba waka Msimang

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