If there is anything good to be said about doing mindless work such as blowing leaves out of the ground cover, it is that I allow my brain to wander off and play. When it comes back and we reengage, I discover it has some interesting adventures to share. The other day was a good example: I started thinking about hood ornaments on cars.
If you are an Old of a certain age, or a fan of vintage autos, you will remember hood ornaments. Originally, they served a purpose as the radiator cap, but they were designed and built to add more beauty to the vehicle. In time, they became more elaborate. For a few decades they were also a convenient place to hold a canvas bag full of water, always ready to be poured into an over-heating radiator.
Then, when canvas bags were no longer essential for the cooling system, and the radiator cap was moved under the hood, they had far less purpose, but for a while the ornaments continued. Each manufacturer had their own design. Jaguar had a big cat ready to pounce; Rolls Royce had their flying lady, and so on. They were a bit whimsy, but in time they disappeared, only to be replaced by a small metallic emblem on the hood.
In short, automobile hood ornaments were demoted to what might be called “useless beauty.” That happened to other decorations as well. Remember how the Buick had vent holes in the fenders that were connected to the exhaust system. Long after the exhaust went through the tail pipe, Buick continued this traditional symbol.
Look for it, and you can find what some would call useless beauty in many places. If you have ever visited San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, you will come across hundreds of centuries old wooden doors. Doors are functional, which means they are used to keep things either in or out of the house. Many of these old doors are magnificently carved, and carefully preserved as objects of beauty that some might consider “useless.” Why bother with the extra expense and work of a carved door? Fortunately, when SMA became a World Heritage Site, the city ordered the doors to be preserved.
Or look at some of the pictures of the entrances to the subways of Paris – the Metropolitan. Some are more than a century old and are beautifully crafted iron signs in the Art Nouveau and Art Deco styles. They add a bit of beauty to the streetscape. Compare their beauty to the dull subway signs in Chicago, New York, and elsewhere. To be sure, the new styles convey the same message, but which is more appealing to the eye? Or is it merely ‘useless beauty?’
There are many other such example, and together they prove that beauty is never useless. You and I spend considerable money and effort to plant and maintain a flower garden, but the blooms last for such a short time. Some would say we should stop doing it because it is too expensive. We should pave it over, put down grass seed, or plant vegetables instead. Yet, we do it because flowers add beauty to our life, and therein is their usefulness. We might cut a few steps, put them in a vase, and set them on our dining room table as a way of bringing beauty into our home.
Pat was a real stickler for adding “useless beauty” to almost everything. The dining room table had to be set so that everything on it was aligned and balanced, not strewn about like casually dealt playing cards. She did not see food as mere fuel for the body, but an opportunity to create something that looked beautiful, and presented artistically. It did not matter if we were having a ‘fancy meal’ or a salad, sardines, and vegetables from the garden. Presentation was as important as the taste.
We ate at the table, not over the sink, because the ambience added value to our lives. In turn it led to many hours long conversations. The ideas and suggestions went back and forth, and we both benefited.
In short, the few minutes of adding a bit of beauty to lunch made wonderful changes in our lives.
Four great philosophers: Elbert Hubbard, William Morris, John Ruskin, and Frank Lloyd Wright taught that form and function take on their greatest meaning when they result in beauty. Morris’ great dictum was, “Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.”
This is vitally important because whatever surrounds us, in whatever form, influences our life. We become our environment. If we surround ourselves with ugliness or jutting juggernauts of junk, our heart and mind will imitate it. Our mind will cluttered and distracted, or we will become ugly and trashy people. Conversely, if we believe that there is elegance in simplicity, we get rid of the superfluous inventory.
This applies to people, as well. If we associate primarily with people whose vocabulary is primarily limited to four letter words, we will start talking like them. If we associate with people who have chosen to exclude vulgarity, we become like them, and we influence others.
Above all, if we surround ourselves with anger, hatred, bigotry, prejudice, meanness, pettiness or insulting words directed at others, we are influenced in that direction. In short order, we will become just like them. I think that also includes the sources of our entertainment, but above all our news. Before long, many of those who sought out the anger and ugliness will rally around a leader who promotes it, or join together with other like-minded individuals.
There is no such thing as “useless beauty.” All of it is essential, but it requires attention to detail and, above all, a sense of inner awareness. Does it have form, function, and is it genuine? To answer those questions in the affirmative means having a heart as well as a brain. When those qualities come together, we have something memorable.
In the days leading up to Easter, I watched as a member of our parish worked on the design of our Easter morning bulletin. Basically, a bulletin is a collection of pages which contained all of the information: music, readings, the liturgy, etc. Instead, he spend hours selecting the right fonts, medieval drawings and artwork, and carefully placed them to create a memorable booklet. To be sure, it was something that very likely would only be used for a few hours, but it added to the beauty of the morning, and as inspiring.
Beauty, in whatever form, wherever it might be, is never ‘useless beauty.’
