Pages

Saturday, April 9, 2011

Islands.

 (Picture from the web-some interior decorator blog. I have  forgotten its provenance, but have loved it and kept in my dream file. Please forgive me for not knowing to whom this belongs!)


In interior places as in this lavatory, we peek at the outdoor world, the ever-changing environment that surrounds us and demands our attention now and then.  We are entities to ourselves, our needs primary and basic, our survival high on our list. We forget that we are part of a larger environment.

I'm thinking of how we shut ourselves from the world in our dream houses. We forget hunger, cold, extreme heat, thirst, wind. We see the world trough windows we create, and we manage, sliding our drapes over a bad view, turning our heaters on cold days.  We don't know hunger any more, and we don't understand anyone who might be hungry.

Surrounded by features we install, mirrors to show off our best features, we are in caves all day long, year in and year out.

It's too easy to become islands.

44 comments:

Jinksy said...

Beautiful photo, but so true about the caves...

Rosaria Williams said...

Jinksy, so good to see you!

Linda Myers said...

True. We need to get out more.

Brian Miller said...

yes it is easy to become that island...and also pretend it is not our fight until too late...

The Broad said...

Very thought-provoking. Our lives seem more and more to be built around these caves -- Cell phones, the Internet, our homes and automobiles make it easier and easier to maintain a cocoon-like existence. This is especially true in retirement. There was a time when we were more obviously dependent on each other because it was necessary to participate person to person. Now more and more we can choose and more and more we close ourselves to others...

LA Nickers said...

Islands ... all too often the case!

Linda Ann

I stopped by via the A to Z Challenge for April, and I invite you to visit my blogs at:

NICKERS AND INK – poetry, humor, inspiration and more

PRACTICALLY AT HOME – inspiration, humor and how-tos for family, home and garden, and more

THE MANE POINT – a haven for horse lovers

MEME EXPRESS – daily blogging prompts for the A to Z Challenge and more

Helen said...

Wise woman, Ms. Rosaria!

I also have one of those dream files in my pictures ... don't we all?

Nancy said...

Wow, there is much to think about here. I agree, we are adrift in many ways, but at the same time encapsulated in our worlds.

Unknown said...

How true it is! Isolation is so easy today!

Amanda Summer said...

profound thoughts, rosaria.

but at least your dream bathroom has a window open to the world ;-)

Donna said...

I think that is true of many things...the economy, Rosaria, and all our debts to China and I could go on and on. I only hope we don't close the shutters so tightly that we, as a country refuse to see it and don anything about it and our children have to cope and suffer for it.
I am guilty too of being on my own island and thinking only about myself and my own life's issues. Thanks for helping me see the "BIG" picure!

Joani said...

"Islands" that is an awesome comment.
I've said that 4 years....especially churches....used mostly on Sun....yet there R families with youngins who R cold, hungry and would like a warm or cool place to spend their night or day. Churches mostly stay empty & yet there R more and more of them and more and more people who R homeless & hungry.......

decomondo said...

Sometimes I feel really helpless in the face of what is happening in the world.
I welcome the opportunity to care for and to beautify the place where I live.
If all of us embellished our little world, perhaps even the big one would become more clean, livable, peaceful, harmonious and welcoming?

quilterliz said...

G'day Rosaria. What a great picture. I would love to see the rest of that place.Take care...

Welshcakes Limoncello said...

A thought-provoking post. I can see why yopu love the picture!

ds said...

Yes. Around here, everyone seems to hibernate during the winter, all is deserted.
We have no excuses, really to remain in our caves. All the more reason to go take a walk! Thank you.

Remember Rev. Donne: "No man is an island..."

RNSANE said...

I couldn't agree with you more, Rosaria. Since my retirement, I feel so cut off from my past friends, especially those colleagues who were part of my forensic nurse profession. I think we are both to blame. Part of it is that I no long have the funds to attend the conferences where we usually got together, I also feel I don't have much to contribute to a converssation since I'm no longer doing the work and haven't in two years.

I totally miss the travel which kept me so connected to the world globally. Fotunately, I do stay in touch with so many friend everywhere and blogging has been a great addition to my life. The search for good photographs gets me in the great outdoors and to the ocean and I make sure I don't miss my jazz!

Arkansas Patti said...

So true. Thank goodness Spring is here or I would be growing moldy in my cave. Our comfort does meke isolation appealing.

rjerdee said...

An entirely new view of decorators' Island Style, Rosaria! Refreshing.

Anonymous said...

Terrific post. These days, it's incredibly easy to become an island. Thanks for the reminder!
Trish

Marguerite said...

Lovely photo! I am thankful that I live in a place, where the culture thrives on getting outdoors and enjoying life and in helping those who are less fortunate.

Lisa said...

True, but I must add that in our system here in Malaysia, we have a compulsory charity tax system, where 2.5% of minimum amount of our one year savings must be paid for this fund that will go and can only go to the needy and the hungry, and a few other categories of people in desperation.

dianefaith said...

When we retired and moved back to where we grew up, we could have moved into one of the gated communities. It was exactly the fear of being an island that made me rail against that. We still are not as aware of what goes on around us as I would like for us to be, but at least we're not gated away, too secure and bored.

Dr. Kathy McCoy said...

So true, Rosaria. When I think about my father's parents settling in Tucson 100 years ago with no a/c, celluloid collars, Victorian dress, I'm in awe. But I see pictures of them enjoying the desert, loving their lives here. And it makes me a bit ashamed of how we insulate ourselves with our thick insulation, our heavy duty air conditioning and settle into a cave, too often losing touch with what surrounds us. You're right that we too easily isolate ourselves -- from our environment and from each other.

thelmaz said...

Nice post. I will follow. Hope you'll stop by my blog, too.

Tabitha Bird said...

indeed. It is far too easy to become islands.

Maggie May said...

Even though I am really on an island...... we do tend to be very insular in our thinking and though we are empathetic towards others who haven't enough to eat.... with full bellies it is hard to REALLY know.
Loved the photo.
Maggie X

Nuts in May

Grandmother Mary said...

This is something I've been thinking about recently. We're such a tiny minority in the world but use so much of it's resources and stay unaware of it's plight. I'm still formulating what to do about this but it weighs on my heart. In the meanwhile, I keep my eyes, ears and heart open as I travel around.

Granny Annie said...

That whole setting would so suit my little country home! Love it.

Hilary said...

So true.

jose cain said...

...-La verdad no he leído todas las preguntas ni todos los comentarios; pero por los que si les cuento: Cuando tengonostalgia, me traslado alos cielos,busco a Jesús, y nos ponemos a charlar... Soy de El Salvador, mi nombre en Cain. Mi blog en Albunesmis...soy tu seguidor. Y es un placer...

Moannie said...

I am happy here on my own little Island. I have become insular; protecting myself from the truth that is out there. I'm over-loaded with information I cannot file-too many horrors-too much sadness that I can do nothing to alleviate.
It's awful-unfair-unjust-unequal. I do my little bit, give what I can, fight where I'm able...but then I pull up the drawbridge.

Love the picture, either high end design or uncomfortable real.

erin said...

Very truly put.

xo
erin

Dawn said...

I SO completely agree with this! And you know...I find having my eyes glued to "now-day technology" doesn't help the island issue!

Barbara said...

Like Moannie, I like my island. Our dream was to live in a place isolated from the rest of the world--in the remote countryside. I know people who leave home to "get away from it all". Me, i go home to get away. What could be better than having one's own home be a haven?

Shadow said...

it is, isn't it. its important to remember the fine line between haven and island.

A Cuban In London said...

It's such a beautiful image. It's quite a simple one, though, but it does convey your thoughts excellently.

Many thanks.

Greetings from London.

Ruth said...

Quite beautiful, Rosaria. I have been thinking along these lines too. We watched Jamie Oliver on TV last night preparing food on a cutting board on his lap under a tree, then cooking over an open camp stove. I was so inspired that I still feel giddy from it.

Cathy Olliffe-Webster said...

I love your blog! - So conversational and interesting and witty! And nice photo, too.

Kostbarste said...

so sad yet so true. people have found a way to make life more comfortable and convenient, yet it's also the same technology that makes us islands.

Cloudia said...

lovely post, R





Warm Aloha from Waikiki


Comfort Spiral

><}}(°>


><}}(°>

Brasil said...

Thank you so much for this! I haven’t been this thrilled by a blog for a LONG time! You’ve got it, whatever that means in blogging. Ha-ha. You’re definitely someone that has something to say that people need to hear. Keep up the great work. Keep on inspiring the people!

LindyLouMac said...

we try to live a life out side our island as much as possible. :)

NormalToEatPB said...

Windows are fo flying through
to meet the God
you think you know