My two most favorite teenagers in the world each came up with fascinating candidates. One teenager volunteered "stomata" as on top of her list, spewing it out as if she has long been waiting to say it. Stomata are microscopic pores in leaves through which water, oxygen and carbon dioxide pass and get incorporated in the process we call "photosynthesis." Photosynthesis is a wonder in itself. Imagine, plants figured out a way to capture light from the Sun, combine it with the rest of the elements found on Earth and transform it into energy that the rest of creation feeds on directly or indirectly. This process is when you think about it, our "extraterrestrial" link in the food chain! The other teenager, younger, cited the heliconius butterfly and the passionflower vine, gesturing with uncharacteristic seriousness the relationship between the two life forms where each developed behavior and body parts that are biological responses to each other. The relationship is called co-evolution where the adaptation of one species depends in part on the evolution of the other. Not only is the detail the only thing notable in the teenager’s sense of "wonder" but also for her to regard it as top in her list of "world wonders" shows how keen she is about life. These two responses sum up and symbolize the elements that make up "wonder." First, you need "windows" to the world, like leaves need stomata, some sort of aperture to capture light that is free and abundant in life. They need not be just your "eyes," it can be any of your senses – of smell, touch, taste or sound.
Then you would need to focus on a kernel of natural life, big or small, and try to understand it by observing it, with the help of other keen observers or books.
I have my own list of wonders which includes the sea in its raging beauty, pink flamingos and wild horses that you can only view in peace from afar, fireflies that do their share in raising the sparks of life, wildflowers that freely ramble and let out their earth chuckles, mountains and turtles of any kind that show "revolutionary patience," the wind as breeze or squalls that blows upon one’s face or the landscape raising dust that later settles, and the sky – morning and night skies that paint the universe as home in a play of light and shadow for me.
That is why I find it disturbing when people say they are utterly bored with life. I think those who are, are simply bored with themselves and just need to awaken to a new kind of morning news that inhabits and sustains the world around their breakfast tables and beyond. Wonder awaits.
What is in your list?