Remembering what is really "wonderful"

When my lovely wife leaves for work each morning, I always say the same thing to her:

"Have a wonderful day."

In the context in which I say this, "wonderful" is a synonym for "terrific" or "great." I think that's probably the way most of us use the word "wonderful" these days.

Of course, that's not what it means.

Merriam-Webster's online dictionary says the following about "wonderful:"

won·der·ful

Pronunciation:

\ˈwən-dər-fəl\

Function:

adjective

Date:

before 12th century

1 : exciting wonder : marvelous, astonishing wonderful to behold>
2 : unusually good : admirable wonderful job>

It's pretty clear that most of us all but ignore the first meaning and have adopted the second one, but the origins of the word "wonderful" come from "full of wonder."

Is there anything that fills us with wonder anymore? There ought to be.

-- I own computers, and so do most of you, that are more powerful than early models that filled entire rooms. Using them, I can communicate almost instantaneously with almost anywhere in the world. I own a pocket device -- a BlackBerry -- that is more powerful than the computers that took the Apollo astronauts to the moon.

-- Vehicles weighing hundreds of tons fly overhead, high in the sky, delivering people from one part of the world to another faster than we could ever have imagined a hundred years ago. I can have breakfast in London and be back at my home in Southern California in time for dinner.

-- We can control the climate in our own homes to the degree. Two hundred years ago, it was either sit by the fire and roast or sit away from the fire and shiver.

-- With the right kind of cellular phone, we can talk to people hundreds of miles away from any electrical source, whether they're on a ship in the middle of the ocean or climbing some tall mountain somewhere.

Of course there are plenty more, but those are only technological advancements. Think of the wonder of a painting by a Rembrandt or a Van Gogh, of a symphony by a Beethoven or a Bach, or a sculpture such as Michelangelo's "David," and wonder at the incredible talent that went into them.

Or wonder at the dark side, at man's ability to kill millions of people at once with a nuclear weapon where at one time killing was truly one at a time -- with rocks and clubs.

Think of the most wondrous things of all -- the development of helpless babies into strong, intelligent adults.

Think of man's humanity to man, of men and women who sacrificed their lives so that others might live.

We live in a truly wonderful world -- in the real meaning of the word.

I hope you all have a wonderful day.

Every day.