"The Monument and the Bungalow" response

During the first 5 minutes of reading "The Monument and the Bungalow" I could not help but wonder how and when the title would introduce itself into the essay. In my opinion, the essay had a slow start. However I discovered later on, this beginning paved the way to my understanding of this complex yet interesting way of viewing what others, including myself, take for granted daily. Accorording to Lewis, although some do posses a natural talent, anyone can be given some proper education in order to open their eyes to read everyday landscape. While Pierce did give excellent pointers on how to better read landscape, truly reading landscape is so more detailed than I could ever have imagined.

It is true how Lewis explains that people at first glance see the memorial and show little to no interest in the historical value. “Just another war memorial, what’s the big deal?” (Pierce Lewis) I also found it interesting how he describes earlier in the essay that “Informal education, where most of our students get most of their ideas, says very clearly that looking at landscape isn’t something cool people normally do.” (Pierce Lewis) I agree that early on most young students will not have the same maturity as older students required to see history and natural beauty for what it is. Although I can look at a monument and understand it’s historical worth, I too needed his depiction to truly see how reading landscape properly can educate one to a point that I was intrigued.

Lewis seems to want to point out that using your eyes goes much deeper than looking. He also explains that we should trust our eyes and be non-judgmental. I have always been captivated by the beauty of nature, but I have never been able to see things to this depth. One can now see how many roles play into the creation of such a monument, history, politics, emotions, and even how an era molds the creation physically. Hopefully now I can take a second, closer look at life around me particularly the details that lie within what I see on the outside.