Seeing? Or Observing?

I'd hate to have that old fart, Sherlock Holmes, on my case about the distinctions between seeing and observing. I think I will work on my observing this week.

Holmes: "You see, but you do not observe. The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently see the steps which lead up from the hall to this room."

Watson: "Frequently."

Holmes: "How often?"

Watson: Well, some hundreds of times."

Holmes: "Then how many are there?"

Watson: "How many? I don't know."

Holmes: "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, because I have both seen and observed."

From: "A Scandal in Bohemia" in The Complete Sherlock Holmes (New York: Doubleday, 1927)

Day 4: I am thankful for the "cheerleaders" in my life.