I adore Mexico.
Everywhere you look, you see the tell of a hand; the uneven texture of adobe, the hand-painted floral fences, the big barrels, painted and repurposed as geranium gardens. I love that country because the people don’t yet know that they’re not ‘allowed’ to be artists. They haven’t quite caught up to our socialized beliefs that tell us ‘boughten is better’.
It is said that necessity is the mother of invention. This is true. When you don’t have a lot of money, you make do. As Mexicans get more money, they too, tend to run right out like the rest of us, thrilled to buy instead of make. But there is more than the unsustainability for the planet that is at risk. There is the commensurate dimming and dying of our own creative spirit.
No matter what the advertisements tell us, we are not here to buy our lives.
We are here to create our lives…one brushstroke, one stitch, one word at a time.
We must do this in spite of the admonishments to live otherwise. We are surrounded by subtle, and not-so-subtle images and messages, that instill in us that, like an out-of-control Pacman we are only here to consume.
Shortly after September 11th, the President of the most powerful nation on earth did not quote Kennedy and say, “ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.” Clearly, that was a message for chumps. Instead, he rallied his nation by telling everyone to shop. “Shop,” he said, “or they will have won.”
Forget being a citizen. Be consumers!
I am not suggesting we all sit in the dark and pound a dress out of cedar bark. I am, after all, a woman who proudly possesses two pairs of Fluevogs.
However, I truly believe that without a real connection to the making of our lives, our spirit diminishes.
Lately, I’ve been seeing signs encouraging more take-out. They are sprouting up on the windows of Vancouver restaurants, “Don’t cook. Just eat.” Trust me, I know better than most that insatiable need for instant gratification. There is something lost, and not much gained, from outsourcing the last of our needs of shelter, clothing and food. We no longer build our own homes. We don’t pin and sew our clothes from patterns and now, apparently, we no longer cook.
I know people are pressed for time, but cooking is such a beautiful and essential part of life. There is nothing better than the sweet benediction from the scent of frying onions, the earthy warmth of sauteing garlic, the comforting aroma from the yeasty-warmth of rising bread.
I have observed my own personal contentment grow every time I brush another stroke of paint on canvas or cook a new recipe. I am proud of the turquoise silk lining I recently stitched into a basket from South Africa, creating my very beautiful knitting basket (though the jury is still out on the viability of the knitting endeavour). My lemon-rosemary cleaner is brewing in a mason jar as I write this and when I’ve finished this post, I will be making some ginger syrup to satisfy my endless craving for all things ginger.
Creation is not reserved for professionals. Creating our lives is the gift we are given. We must free ourselves up to fail.
Risk something. Risk it all. After all, imperfection is where beauty lies.
So in the spirit of being free to create anything, including lousy poems, I leave you with this:
Make supper from scratch,
Or sew a patch,
Knit a sweater,
Make your world better.
Bake a cake.
Create & make!
–Written with imperfect words and lots of love.
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A very beautiful message. We all have some spirit of creativity within us. The question is whether or how we chose to exercise it.
Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to comment Joanne. It always does come down to that question of choice…to act or not to act 🙂
I am not very creative but recently I have knitted a woolly scarf and baked a yogurt cake (not at the same time!). I occasionally cook casseroles; even ten years ago I wrote my memoirs – a book of 126 pages. But after each creation I always look at the imperfections, that’s why I am very reluctant to try something new. I don’t know if we are allowed to have imperfections in this world where only the best succeed but I like the sentence “We must free ourselves up to fail”. I will try to be more risky.
Catherine. Your comment gladdened my heart…I know that sounds very old school, but I can’t think of a better way to express how happy I was to read your last sentence. You made me smile right to my toes.
I think we all tend toward that same feeling of not bothering to try something because so many before us have done it better. I know I often get stuck there with my writing. (In fact, come to think of it, it might be true that I am still stuck there with one of my writing projects). But really, why should we/I care?
We would never write, speak, sing, paint, cook or do anything if only the best attempts matter, right? We need to remind ourselves that it is the journey that matters, not the destination.
Let’s go for it!
Beautiful post. I wholeheartedly agree. As i try to come up with ideas for blank canvases i take heart in your words that imperfection is where beauty lies.
Thanks Barb. I try to take heart in my words too…especially after looking at my latest creation and wondering how to scrape it all off and start over! In cases like this I try to remember it’s all part of the learning process…Boy am I going to be smart when it’s all done 🙂