Alien contacts

I'm riding a gondola lift back up. I'm in the Dolomites for a few days of skiing. In the cramped space, besides Emanuela and me, there's a couple of strangers who give the impression of not having seen each other for a while. Around us, trees that look like crystal and snow-covered pines rise vertically towards a sky of clear, bright blue. A magnificent landscape that almost stuns you and makes it hard to keep your balance.

The pair of friends, however, bring me back down to earth. One asks the other: “I imagine these are perfect trees for building and making furniture?” The other replies: “Of course, sturdy wood, tall and straight, perfect for heavy carpentry.”

In a few sentences they described the historical period we are living in, where the sense of the "beautiful" has vanished to make room for the so-called "useful". It seems that the hearts of my "fellow humans" are not touched by beauty. Can their eyes see the nuances and the play of light? Do they hear the song of the wind whispering poetry in their ears? Do they find themselves with tears in their eyes, grateful for the irrepressible emotion of being part of such magnificence?

Not them! They think about how you can exploit and use it; they think about carpentry.

So I look at the two friends and understand the paradox of sharing the same space while living in worlds far apart from each other that will never truly meet.

m.m.