Patterns

(All Pictures Taken with my Palm Pilot)


Dodge Theater


There is the randomness of nature. The leaves, the roots, the flowing of the steams, the gusting of the wind. Then, I see the repetition of society. The way we strive to make everything the same, over and over again.



Auto Body Shop


I have to assume that there is something deep in our brains that craves this repetition. We always want things to be the same, never changing, predictiable. We line things up in rows. We think ourselves brilliant for coming up with mass production, where thousands of little rubber duckies roll off of assembly lines, one just like the next. The lines produce cars, widgets, action figures, guns, etc. All the same, with interchangable parts.



Bathroom Floor


This past weekend I spent a good part of Sunday trimming trees. Untangling the intertwined branches, cutting them off with anvil sheers and then slicing them all into neat lengths so they would fit into garbage bags. The end result? All that randomness of nature arranged in a neat row of 33 gallon Hefty bags.



Closed Storefront


If we had control over nature how would we make it look. Would all of the rivers be arrow straight? Would all of the forests have trees the exact same height? Would it ALWAYS be 72 degrees and sunny? It seems that this is the mindset that we have when we create the world that we live in.



Building, Phoenix


We know from experience that a curved surface can have more strength than a flat one. Adverstity and randomness requires adaptability. There are no straight lines in nature for a reason. Nature wants only those that can pass the test in order to move on. It does not keep making the same plants and animals millenia after millenia. Yet we strive for mediacracy. We roll thousands of Dodge Chargers off the assembly lines and make ourselves think each one is 'unique' because of their different colors, better stereos or choice of wheel covers.



Building, Phoenix


Maybe the fact that all things are the same gives us a sense of normalcy, a sense of security. But it also paints us into a corner and gives us a narrow view of what is possible. It scares me that there is a whole generation of children that actually see McDonald's as food yet have never peeled an orange. They have ridden in cars and buses all their lives but never had to ford a stream or climb a tree.



Court House Steps


For some reason, I think we are ill prepared for our future.