Humanity seems all too good these days at racing to the bottom, hollowing out, forgetting. We lose luster, love, beauty. We feed the machine and smother ourselves. Maybe that cheap plastic trinket becomes your god. Maybe it’s a stepping stone towards beauty and love. That’s okay. But too often that trinket sucks us in and we get lost in its promise. Then we go further, we find more plastic to hold back the void. But the plastic always falls in and gets all crumpled up—just like our hearts.
There’s another way though. Not plastic but handmade, crafted. These things come with a lot more care and connection. And that’s good for us because we can find beauty in it. Plastic is like a 2D thing but crafted things are like 3D. More for our hearts to play with, see, and feel. This extra dimension helps us figure out why we’re alive, why they’re alive.
And this pursuit of stumbling into a purpose, a meaning is why any of this matters. It’s not “what’s the favorite song?” but “what’s your favorite song?”. Between “the” and “you” is vast. “The” lacks personal significance while “you” has all the significance. Crossing the chasm from “the” to “you”, from insignificant to significant is where everything lies. Who we are, why we are, how we are.
These crafted things play off you and me as we go thru this dance of significance together. But with plastic there’s no dance or playing off you or me. People bring meaning into the things they make and this is where we dance. The presentation of theirs becomes an invitation for you to find yours. And this reverberation continues. Where you find your significance and share it with everyone, another significance begins—in someone else. This wrestle moves people: it keeps the world going. And just like that you’ve brought more beauty into the world.