Slowing Down

The scene of Auggie showing Paul Benjamin his 4,000 photographs project immediately amazed and overwhelmed me as much as it probably did to Paul Benjamin. Like Auggie, I really enjoy photography and when I watched Auggie describe his project of taking a picture at the same location every morning at the same time every day, in my mind, I thought this was a very cool project and hoped to try it on my own one day. During this scene, Auggie conveys an important lesson about slowing down. In class, we mentioned how one of the characteristics of New York is that things are fast-paced, accelerating, and oftentimes, we as New Yorkers are numb and do not notice the normal day-to-day things around us and have to rely on something extreme to excite us. But I like how Auggie takes pictures of one little part of the world, his corner, and makes the point that there are things happening at this corner every day just like anywhere in the world. As Paul Benjamin is going through the album, Auggie notices that he is going too fast and tells him he’s not going to understand it if he doesn’t slow down and notice. Paul Benjamin says the pictures all look the same, but Auggie mentions that each one is in fact different from each other, as some are taken on a bright day, others on dark days, others on days where people are wearing t-shirts, days where people are carrying an umbrella.

Exploring this theme of slowing down, I notice that this is actually an integral theme throughout the movie that Paul Benjamin learns. From the very beginning, Paul Benjamin is always hurrying and even crossed the street at the wrong light, almost killing himself. In the beginning, we also notice Paul Benjamin as very busy and occupied with his life and career as a writer. After Rashid stayed two nights at his apartment, Paul Benjamin quickly dismisses him, without slowing down and even giving a second thought about his decision. He didn’t feel sorry for him at first. He may have saw Rashid as any ordinary teenager at first (just like all of Auggie’s photos that were the same), but never took the time to slow down and see the individual story behind each person. It wasn’t until Aunt Em came over and had a conversation with Paul Benjamin that he began to worry. Evidently, we see a change in Paul Benjamin’s character as we see how the next time Rashid returns, Paul actually takes the time to talk with him, finds out about his background and problems, and even spends the evening with him talking about his writing and history.
(Word Count: 445)