Depth

When it rains really hard, the water can sometimes accumulate in areas that have poor drainage and puddles will form. These puddles tend to be rather shallow and can be really annoying if you aren't paying attention to where you are walking. Parking lot puddles may be one of my worse enemies and I've lost a lot of dry socks to them.

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But bodies of water not need only be shallow. One day while adventuring in a nearby park I attempted to cross the creek across the body of a fallen tree. It had rained earlier in the day and the fallen tree was rather slippery. About halfway across the tree, I slipped and fell into the creek feet first. The depth of the majority of the creek is less than a couple of feet, but I kept falling deeper and deeper until my shoulders were in the water.

Given the height that I fell in, my whole body ended up underwater, but I had discovered a deeper pool of a depth of over four feet in that park. I enjoyed the long walk home soaked in creek water, but that's what happens when you are not careful and paying attention where you are going. You might fall into a puddle or something deeper.

Of the two types of experiences, the second one was more memorable due to the depth of water encountered. I have probably soaked my socks in dozens of shallow puddles over the years, but I had only fallen in the hidden depths of a creek once. But the creek experience is limited due to the fact that most of the time you don't have creeks in the way. Uneven and poorly drained parking lots are pretty common place for those living in developed countries.

Another experience with depth beyond that of simply water are some of the times I have ventured deep under the earth in underground caves. Caving is a unique experience and if given the opportunity an experience one should take the time to consider doing.

I have been in many tourist caverns that look cool, but again are shallow compared to the deeper and more rare experiences. Caverns are usually open and lit, conquered and accommodating. But wild caves are something else. Often times they are wet, tight, and dark. There is less to see but more to experience. At moments you might be crawling or even squeezing through narrow passages and then be bobbing along cold water deeper and deeper into the unknown and rarely seen.

Both experiences are interesting explorations, but the investment taken in the deeper experience makes it more memorable and makes it something worth remembering. It's just really cool.

Art and writing can be similar in terms of providing interesting areas of explorations and providing memorable experiences. But depth matters too in determining how valuable and worthwhile the experience is.

Let's consider video. Vlogs can be interesting, but you forget them after awhile. Many are boring and shallow. Video essays are more engaging experiences and the additional substance can draw you in. I like these, but depending on the effort put into them, some aren't worth the time. Then we reach the feature-length film. One of the deepest ventures into motion pictures. Movies that explore how deep we can get into certain themes and ideas are the ones I find the most interesting and ones I often continue to think about after the movie.

But depth in art and video is a little different than my physical adventures over water and underneath earth. It is hard to quantify what depth actually means because it is not always correlated to length or size. Very short articles can be deeper than books that are hundreds of pages. Short films can be deeper than multi-season television programs. Just like the depth of a puddle is independent of its surface area.

True artists explore the depths of imagination and blaze paths that people have yet to travel. These artists create the experiences worth remembering. I want to go on an adventure. I want to see something I have never seen before. I want to encounter ideas I never have thought about before. I want to dive in and when I come back up for breath, I want only one thought: I can't wait to dive back in.