Today I feel sad because it feels like everything I love is obsolete: small bookstores, quality products that are meant to last, elderly people, face to face teaching. At age 47 it feels like the world is slipping away on a technological tsunami where fewer and fewer people control a larger and larger share of power/money/control. We recently watched "The Social Network" and the last point made is the billions of dollars Zuckerberg is worth, far far too much for any one person. What brought on this melancholy was the realization that one of my favourite little shops, a camera shop independently owned, has closed its doors for good after 33 years of business. I was forced to go to one of those dreaded soul-sucking big box stores to have a picture printed off, the colours were fake, the process unsatisfactory.
On the other hand, technology has democratized our political systems and countries like Egypt and Libya can rise up against dictators who have been in power for far too long. Through twitter and facebook millions of voices can be heard - that's never a bad thing.
But for today my question is "Where is the beauty?"
This picture is one of those happy intersections of bad housekeeping and good timing. The statue was a gift from my brother, I've had her for years. The cobweb is the result of, oh I don't know, spiders and dust and whatever cobwebs are made of. It makes it look like she is crying. We'll say that she's crying for the state of the world, but at the same time it's actually kind of funny that the spiders created this image. Sometimes in big box worlds and cookie cutter buildings and homes we have to look a little harder to find the beauty - it's still there.
