Beautimas

So remember that big fat storm I talked about last time we spoke? Turns out I may have been one of the few to come out on top... I was walking to work today from Mr. Za za zoo's house and I saw a giant Oak (at least I think it was an Oak, my tree classification skills aren't what they might be) felled in the middle of the park. Gosh, can we take a moment and remind ourselves how fantastic it is that we have words like "felled" to use in a sentence. Anyway, this felled tree was split in twain laterally leaving a giant woody mass cracked in half that must have crushed anything in its path on the way down.

How sad... Poor tree. As such random occurrences are want to do, this big sad and soon to be dead plant got me a thinkin'. Why do we plant trees anyway? A city is not exactly a tree's natural habitat. Someone must be hired to check up on that tree and when needed come in and fix the tree, or if not fixable, as is the case at the moment, cut the tree down and put another in its place. This takes someone a lot of time and money, especially for a thing that could possibly crush people under certain conditions. The tree is out to get us people! And after it fails we just put another would be assassin in its place! Are we crazy? Why do we bother with this herbage? Why not just place a squat bush, a moderate shrub, a inconspicuous brier instead?

Well, I guess they do provide shade and like all plants perform necessary carbon dioxide to oxygen conversions in the air. Some trees smell nice or host important wildlife, like um.. squirrels and uh, crows. Vital to the natural landscape of Philly. But come on, let's be honest here and call a decorative spade a decorative spade. We plant big trees in the middle of cities because they are pretty. It isn't supposed to be efficient it's an aesthetic pleasure we would not naturally be afforded. Which brings me to a theory I have: There are two schools of thought in life, two kinds of people, the ones who need to look in life for beautiful things and those who don't.

The group that seeks the beauty may at times choose outwardly inconvenient or seemingly superfluous modes of operation. Their lives may be filled with what many deem inessential. They often seek big experiences, live for the memories of their past deeds. They may surround themselves with beautiful baubles of no apparent use, collect things they do not appear to use, perform actions the long way every time.

Then there are the other kind of people. I think these are the people who are those among us who are efficient and simple. Simplicity in the sense of ease and comfort and not, let's be clear here, simple mindedness or naivete. Efficient people are every bit as deep or heavy as the beautiful people. They just think about the world a little differently, choose to use their time in another manner. They are the beings who make life most useful and choose not to waste time if they can help it. These are people infuriated by traffic jams and waiting lines. Here are people who put up with no muss or fuss. And there's a lot to admire in that kind of an attitude.

And few people are only one or the other. I think people on either extreme are probably annoying. Life is a series of choices in which you have to pick: ease or beauty. Anyone always going one way needs to get a reality check. But it's important to take stock of the fact that it is a choice we make. That we do make a call on what is more important at a given moment. At any given time we decide if we ought to head down the simple way or trek down that long road to get where we're going. And you lose something either way, in my opinion. So it just depends on what you'd prefer to lose. Example: no one thinks a strip mall is beautiful or an Olive Garden restaurant the epitome of culinary delight. But they're everywhere. Why? Because there are an awful lot of people who just don't want to make the effort to drive to 5 stores in 5 locations or make food at home. And it's a valid concern. Work is hard, life is hard and errand suck. Sometimes you just want simplicity.

But, today I'm here to make a plea on behalf of the trees of the world. They aren't really useful. They sometimes fall and might kill a person in so doing. But think about how ugly things would be without them. We'd have to keep our noses to the grindstones all the time, because who on earth would want to look up and see what was left? So I implore you to do something beautiful today, especially if it's something important. Find the road less easily traveled for once. Because to do something beautifully is usually not the quickest or easiest way to do it. But when the thing counts, seems best to me to do it big and loud and beautimas.