10/11/10: Today, I put out several things

Yesterday, our friend, Karen, asked how it was that we could keep ourselves from taking a bunch of stuff from the Bench for ourselves. First, I gestured to our overly-packed house, implying something like, "Where would we put more stuff?" I also said something about how, when I take an item for myself, I try and put something else out on the Bench. This is true, but Garth's answer was also true: "Katrina is a better person than I am." Oops! I meant his other answer: "We do take stuff off the bench." Remember that ivory-colored tablecloth from awhile back? Well, it hung around for days, and then finally I realized it would be perfect for a curtain Luken wants in his room. I'll just cut it above the rip and hang it up.

There is another answer to Karen's question, too: most of this stuff is not especially desirable - and thus, not hard to resist. In fact, I have thought a number of times that most of the things sound better when I write about them than they are in reality. This is a curious phenomenon. I generally describe what seems relevant about a Bench item, and sometimes that means not describing other qualities, like dinginess, or cracks.

I also think something happens when my attention is focused on an item. When someone takes the time to focus on something by writing about it or taking a picture of it or telling a story about it, it implies some worth. There is a dark side to this. Popular culture is all about turning our attention toward things that aren't necessarily of worth; the attention is there simply because someone wants you to buy something.

But, at its best, I think art uses this focus phenomenon in an illuminating way. It invites us into the artist's way of seeing, it says, "I find this beautiful," and asks us to find beauty in, too - though we might not have been inclined to do so previously. I like exercising my mind that way. There's something spiritual about it - like having someone speak compassionately about a person we're irritated with, and so inviting us to create a more complete, tender picture of that person.