You don’t need a fancy living to feel good about yourself. A quiet afternoon with a beloved companion is more than enough. This bundle of compassion lives with a friend who was my host when I visited Seattle last year. Ever-bounding with enthusiasm, this was her rare peaceful moment. Looking back, she’s still one of my beloved memories of the trip.
The best thing about modern art is that it has no definition. Anyone can interpret it in any way they like. The artist doesn’t have to be precise or convey everything that runs in their mind. And that’s why no two people absorb a piece of art the same way.
But when the artist has multiple interpretations of their own to convey, then perhaps this is how it might look. This work of art sits at the Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco, California. It reminds me how a single thing can be single and many at the same time. It’s a depiction of how changing, how unfixed art—and to an extent, life—is.
There are only a few things in life that silence you by their sheer magnitude. Without a doubt, nature is one of them. When my friend offered to take me to the Beacon Rock in Stevenson, I was thrilled, excited, and nervous all at the same time. And as it is with these emotions, I chatted away all the way up, eager to reach the peak. My patient friend with his experience in hiking with enthusiastic first timers, offered me advice and great conversation throughout the hike. When at last we reached the top, this sight descended upon me knocking my voice out of my throat. For much longer than a few minutes, we stood atop the rock looking down at the marvellousness that’s the Gorge of Columbia River. Despite the devastating loss it’d undergone mere weeks ago, the river flowed along serene as ever.
Nature has a weird way of beating itself up. But even though it’s sad when natural beauty and light depletes, there’s nothing pathetic about it. It’s the way of life—a default course of action. Artificial things, however, are prone to deterioration faster and in an uglier fashion than nature. It’s when you see them side by side that you notice how time and surroundings weathers both natural and man-made phenomena.
This is a photo of the Narrows Bridge Memorial Park in Tacoma, Washington. I was on a train from Portland to Seattle when I saw this massive old structure still standing, yet worn with age.
Growth comes to all in different ways. For some it comes in spurts while for some others it comes in a slow, agonising manner. Regardless of how we grow and evolve in our personal and professional lives, one thing remains the same: nature gives us all what it takes to become bigger and better. For a tree, she gives sunshine, soil, and water. For us, she gives the trees. Looking up at the expanse of branches over my head, I felt assured—I knew my time would come just as it did for that tree.
The Chaos Within 