Each of us should try to be the best observers of everything around us. Some day we may be called upon to testify as witnesses to a crime. We'd be asked questions from everything about the culprit's physical appearance, his age, his car if one was involved and any other number of details.
Spies are trained in this sort of thing. In the movies they glance into a refrigerator or trash can and then recall every item they saw.
I recall a story about a professor at a medical school trying to emphasize the importance of close observation skills in examining patients. While discussing the analysis of urine and enumerating its various properties, he casually mentioned that it was "tasteless". While doing so, he dipped one finger in a urine sample and placed a different finger in his mouth and declared, " I want each of you to come down here and do exactly as I did."
You guessed it. Most of the students put the "dipped" finger into their mouths. I have to believe they all became excellent observers from that time on. Wouldn't you?
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