We want the finer things in life. An elegant dress, the fancy restaurant, polished manners, the perfect date. There's nothing wrong with it. It is wonderful in fact. I spent this evening in a coffee shop. As I sipped my ice coffee and enjoyed myself for once this week, I picked up a a copy of Life: The classic collaboration. A compendium of photographs from the entirety of the company's existence were found between the leaves of pages. The best photos and photographers who had caught life at it's hardest, simplest and most beautiful moments. I lingered on the black and white photos from the mid 1940's Pictures of famous actresses between scenes; artists, unsuspected in the lures of life; and the poverty stricken scenes from a war ravaged country.
The mid 1900's would be the perfect place to live. I imagined myself in flouncy dresses and coifs, in an old ford on the way to be beach, or adorned with floor length elegance and tight up-does, enjoying a glass of chardonnay. What could have been! It would be wonderful: dance clubs and Jazz music, and propriety and manners! All of which I find lacking the the technology age I find myself in. Gladly would I change this laptop for a round of musical chairs and friends.
I imagine the elegance and simplicity of an age now only written about in books and wish I was there. I'll say goodbye to all 4 jobs and embrace the simple life of housewife, or maybe have one modeling job. Things were simple, and they seemed exactly as they were.
Glamour and elegance, simplistic and proper but turning the page brought a dark side, every era, every country faces. The ravages of war, poverty the slums. Sadly I mourned inside myself, page after page. Before me laid pictures of the poor, their lack of basic necessity. Even murder and death scenes all immortalized in a black and white photo. The occupants wore tear stained faces, the signs of depression and the utter lack of hope. They were at the bottom of life.
Some found joy, the relished in what they did have, and you could see it in their faces; The way they lit up for the camera. The 106 year confederate soldier was captured in the thralls of laughter a girl playing mother to her doll. The era was no different than my own. The emotions are the same. The problems are the same.
I admire that despite not having the finer things in life. People have found a way to hope, to live and to love, because that is what we are. It is a glorious creator to have made a most resilient people. I might fancy the look, but I rejoice in that everyday the Lord shows what this life is really about.
