ostriches

to me, ostriches are the oddity of all birds. this may just be the naive american in me, that is not completely well-travelled and diverse enough to recognize there are weirder species out there in the vast unexplored, however, from the little knowledge i've received, they're freaks.

they're big. fat. frumpy. noisy. constantly bitter. and they can't even fly.

now usually, around here, i like to keep things smooth. start out with an object we can all relate to, give a new view to the subject, tie in my thoughts, throw in a little chuckle here and there, and close with a well-put together line that will make your taste-buds hungry for the next post.

broken-down: i like to beautify the common.

however, today, i have no analogy or epiphany, but have instead discovered something worth mentioning.

in the weirdest little place, too. yesterday, i bought a photography book that is full of portraits from africa, asia, and south america. on every other page the photographer has included quotes from authors that have inspired his work.

here's the catch: this book was $1. i got it at dollar tree of all places. i was expecting and hoping to maybe enjoy a few of the pictures just so i didn't waste those hundred pennies. however, i am more than impressed. the work is solid. the subject inspiring. the design beautiful.

as an artist i usually just like to look at the pictures, analyze them, and move on. but one of my dear companions actually took the time to read the quotes. and, once her mouth dropped i had to ask what she had found, and this is what she told me:

"If it is true that love is the only sane and satisfactory answer to the problem of human existence, then any society which excludes, relatively, the development of love, must in the long run perish of its own contradiction with the basic necessities of human nature. Indeed, to speak of love is not "preaching," for the simple reason that it means to speak of the ultimate and real need in every human being. That the need has been obscured does not mean that it does not exist. To analyze the nature of love is to discover its general absence today and to criticize the social conditions which are responsible for this absence. To have faith in the possibility of love as a social and not only exceptional-individual phenomenon is a rational faith based on the insight into the very nature of man." Erich Fromm From the Art of Loving

yes, my mouth then dropped too.

go, re-read, try to grasp. i know there are big words. i had to re-read several times.

this is the ostrich of all my posts. not well constructed or thought out in any form. awkward. i just had to share that quote with you. we all need to read things like that every now and again, or in my case, everyday- to remind me that love is mandatory for life and really the essence of it.