I
Snow or Sun?
Sunsets or Sunrises?
Insects or animals?
Mountains or ocean?
The world around us is filled with preference
Preference based on memories
Memories of licking blackberry juice from stained fingers
Or chasing deer through rain soaked forests
Memories of squishy shiny sand
morphing into imagination’s creations
While the sky becomes a watercolor of soft pastels
Nothing shapes the way we think, who we are, what we do like
Preference.
II
Tall expansive forests or rolling sand dunes
The way the time capsules of the brain
Decide what we like or dislike
Leisurely strolls or strenuous hikes?
Grassy hills or rocky canyons?
Each memory has it’s association
Good or bad
Memories cling to our birthplace
The places when we decided yes or no
The places we call home are built upon
Preference
III
But where is home?
We all share one Home but do we all look at it the same?
No
The first time you experienced the sun lick your back
and bronze your skin
Did you like it?
Or did you prefer the first time you felt a snowflake
land softly on your tongue
dissolving in seconds the one in million frozen ice design?
Lush greens and blues or sun dried reds and oranges?
Does the sound of falling water bring you back to calmer times
making you feel cozy
Or
does it make you feel trapped and anxious with cabin fever?
Preference.
IV
It defines our person.
It gives ambition and drive to our hairy human accomplishments
But who shapes our preference?
Sometimes she is seen as a living organism
Other times she is only seen through her many different extremities
Separated from her whole.
Some see her through her timely dispositions:
Naturalism or romanticism
Existential or transcendental
No matter the way you see her
She surrounds us, all the same,
and yet she embraces each of us in completely unique ways
She allows for us to create our own
Preference.
V
She indulges us in experience; experiencing her.
Without pride and without anger
she lets us decide
How we view her.
She gives, without objection, opportunnities for
Preference.
She creates and molds
Not only the outside world
But our own souls
She gives us the opportunity to decide
For she is our Father’s creation
And the foundation of His plan
She and He allow for
Preference
And thus, they allow us to become who we are
And decide for ourselves who we will be.