Chapter One - Observational Skills : What’s Out There?

Student Example

Chapter One - Observational Skills : What’s Out There?

[ Observing the Familiar : Vegetable or Fruit pg. 20 ]

I almost want to say that an orange is perfectly round but not the one in front of me. The shape can best be expressed as an irregular circle that incorporates an oval form. It sits motionless on the table in front of me as the light hit’s the textured surface from the right and casts a shadow that extends along the left side of the table. The color is as close to orange as orange itself. Unlike other fruit’s, the unique thing that I noticed about an orange is that it retains a solid color throughout the entire surface or outside coat. The indentation at the very tip of it is evidence that it was at one point attached to a root before it was picked off. You can still see a spec of green left over as it remains embedded at the top. If this was the first time I laid my eyes on this unfamiliar object I would be forced to pick it up and fully explore what it really is. What is inside of it?

The surface felt cold. I gripped the orange with both hands cupping the entire fruit. Unlike an apple‘s clear coat finish, the surface feels rough and dry. The texture is so rich that I can come to the conclusion that each orange is unique in its own way and no two oranges are alike in size, shape, or texture. The weight of it is evident, it isn’t light at all as I hold it in the palm of my hand. Yet, it feels hollow or less dense inside. As I squeeze the side of this unusual shape, it alters its form and absorbs the pressure induced by my fingers. Simultaneously, I felt my fingers moisten. I then squeezed a little harder and witnessed minor drops of fluid pouring down my hand. I began to toss the orange up and down. After each toss, it started to feel like it was getting heavier.

I began to notice a citrus smell as my hand came closer to my nose during each toss. I set the orange down on a flat surface and as I brought my hand over towards my nose to smell my fingers I noticed the orange alter its position on the table almost rolling off the edge. When I smelled my fingers it seemed as if it had absorbed some of the juices that were transferred to the surface as I squeezed it. As I was rubbing my fingers together I noticed that the texture of the orange slightly resembled the texture of my fingers. I found that rather interesting.

I accidentally dropped the orange on the hardwood floor below me and surprisingly the noise was absorbed by the structure of the fruit. As soon as it hit the floor it began to roll in an unknown direction. The orange retained its cold temperature since I began to observe it. The longer I spent time next to this so called fruit the smell became more evident. I then decided to try listening to the orange. Well just like assumed it was dead silent in its rest state. However as I began to squeeze it beside my ear I heard what I can describe as a high pitch bubbly noise. Applying logic, my guess would be that it is the sound of the juices seeping from the inside through the outer coating and into my hand.

All the sudden as I was running out of things to observe I decided to lick the outside of the orange. This wasn’t as pleasing as the other procedures but did emphasize one important fact. The outside is definitely not as tasty s what’s inside. To tell you the truth it was a bit bitter. Actually, it was very bitter. I don’t think I’ll be doing that for a while.

After concluding this exercise I felt like I just re-discovered the orange as a fruit for the first time in my life. It made me realize that during some point in my life I was unaware of what this bright orange object really was. I used my senses to familiarize myself with the fruit and somewhere along the way the thought process seemed to disappear as I ate this sensational fruit. This helped me to see that an individual can learn many things through the simple but complex process of observation. It is a skill that can be learned and improved just like anything else.