scarletdog

 “Writing is a form of personal freedom.  It frees us from the mass identity we see in the making all around us.  In the end, writers will write not to be outlaw heroes of some underculture, but mainly to save themselves, to survive as individuals.” – Don Delillo***

It’s a good quote, is it not?  I think it is.  That particular Don Delillo phrase hits me hard. Sometimes it's easier to use the words and works of others to speak my mind.  And it’s not just because sometimes words fail me, and they do, it’s because the world is full of people far more thoughtful and eloquent than me.  (I must confess that I’m not even a fan of Delillo’s work, if only because I haven’t read any of it yet.  I keep meaning too.  Maybe right after I finish Umberto Eco’s History of Beauty)

Earlier today I was feeling bored and empty so I pulled up photobucket (I was also feeling rather lazy and shallow) and took a quick peek through their quotes section (hey, you never know) and was reminded of a few facts of life...  Not everyone can convey a personally sacred sentiment or an ideal in three lines or less, although they do try. Not everyone can design attractive imagery, although it is painfully obvious that a lot of work goes into some of the art floating around. Not everyone is at the same level emotionally, or intellectually.  And most certainly, not everyone has the same sensibilities.  Personally, I’m not a fan of pink and blue overlapping text surrounded by rainbows/ puppies /kittens/butterflies and/or sparkles, but obviously a lot of people are. Hey, just because I was never the little girl in the powder pink shirt with the sparkly unicorn appliqué (get the choice of picure yet?) on the front doesn’t immediately invalidate all those who were, as far as common pursuits are concerned. 

However, my innate need to be contrary and separate does seem to mean that when I see soft-focus pictures of tabbies embellished with cheesy slogans like ‘love is a warm kitten’ I think ‘that’s fucking lame,’ not ‘awww, how cute!’  Not that kitties aren’t cute, of course they are.  And rainbows are pretty.  So are flowers.  Besides being pretty do you know what all those sorts of things have in common? They are very, very temporary expressions of change that exist within a greater process or system. 

The kitten grows up, the rain stops falling and the flowers wilt and fade. The process of change is what I think is beautiful.  I don't want to freeze or retard the evolution of a creature or a moment because to do so would be at the expense of what's to come next. Kitties are cute, but they’re a pain in the ass like all babies.  You got something agianst cats? Grown cats are fabulous.  Flowers are pretty, but it’s the foliage that fills in the gaps in the garden and gives the sunlight something to play agianst.  And rainbows, well, you can chase them all you want, can’t you? 

At one point I was going to say that little girls grow up and stop believing in unicorns and little boys grow up and take off the superhero cape (hopefully before they try to 'fly' off the garage roof and break an arm, thereby ruining Christmas... Toddy) but that's not really true is it?  If I switched that ridiculous image of a unicorn for an image of a group of smiling, well-fed, secure-in-themselves-and-their-immediate-futures people of mixed ethnicities and diverse cultures (like one of the old Benneton ads, but without the sweaters) who don't want anything but the best for everyone else, would wishing for nice and good and happy seem so foolish?  I know it's all about deciphering the symbols other people use, but I gotta say that sometimes the symbols they pick are just so bloody lame.

* The happy unicorn picture was found on a google search of the phrase 'unicorns'.
**The Delillo quote was not found on photobucket, big surprise there, huh?