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| "The people spoke a peculiar dialect... But the orioles sounded as in my country... And luckily I know about landscape..." (Wang Wei) |
Not every landscape is as pretty as that of Yunnan in China! These breathtaking pictures simply give a glimpse of its natural beauty!
Ingeniously and meticulously cultivated, much is possible when we attend to our landscapes.
I recently read an article about buildings in Baghdad. To a people who were once so controlled by Saddam Hussein's uniformed and restrained colors, today's Baghdad is color gone wild! I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. So much news out of Iraq is about violence.
It was good, albeit, crazy, to hear something as mundane as to the choice of colors. The landscape of a person's heart, in my opinion, always affects the landscape that surrounds him or her. So what exactly is the complaint? Apparently owners of buildings, either government or private, have chosen to go with bold, gaudy colors in a city once known for its ancient beauty. Police headquarters in the city are painted in two shades of purple, lilac and grape. The Central Bank is painted in bright red and candy cane stripes. Blast walls and security checkpoints are painted in hot pink. The Trade Ministry is flushed in pink, orange and yellow. In Saddam's time, color was used sparingly.
Government buildings are also decorated in an array of plastic flowers, cheap paintings, multi-colored rugs and furniture.
Caecili Pieri, author of "Baghdad Arts Deco" states there is "an anarchy of taste!" Qasim Sabti, artist, says "It is the ugliest the city has ever been." With freedom of expression comes a plunge in color madness. I look at these shots of Yunnan and wonder if I could cope living in such blasts of color. I once collected paintings only in various shades of green until a friend of mine politely said to me:
"You need some color in your life!" For those of us who live in climes that seem to have less of color and more of green, let us simply smile. I grew up in the Caribbean where there was a wealth of color! How lucky for us who know landscape!
The inner landscape also has to be taken care of - its needs are equally demanding. It hungers for clarity and purpose. With careful attention, the landscape can be beautiful, a treasure to behold! Mowaffaq al-Taey, designer of many buildings for Saddam, blamed the lack of taste on poor imitation. He smiled with his comment: "our best hope now is for a plague of sandstorms!" I laughed heartily.
May we attend our inner landscapes this summer as we plant our gardens. May the beauty and color we seek not warrant a prayer for storms (sic. of any kind)! Peace!
Color.
ReplyDeleteSomething to behold and something to experience.
I think the oppressing times of Sadam had its toll on the the hearts and creativity of the people. That ancient beauty of the sand, blending in with the earth held its history intact throughout the ages. The rise of a Sadam turned that monotone, simplistic beauty into a disguise for a heart-rending rule of terror. To the world, all was well, for a time.
But now that Sadam is gone, the attention turns to every aspect of their lives that have now become free. Sure there is still strife and fear of incursions and rebellions, but there has to be some sense of a peace and joy at a deliverance of sorts. So maybe they turn to expression in color to show the world, "We can live again, look at us blossom!"
But like every flower, watering is essential. My prayer is that they be watered by the truth and life that comes from only one place - Jesus. The World will try to water them with materialism, individualism and immorality.
Under Sadam they were one, but a fearful one. Let us all pray they become a joyful one.