Treasure
I started off in the bank, and the staff were not happy that I wanted to engage with someone rather than use a machine. With an astonishing, “well, come on then” from the reluctant cashier, I did what I needed to do and then headed back into the mall, to be greeted by obnoxiously loud music from the mall itself. So I went into a shop to browse and was greeted by more music. I then decided to leave the mall as it was just too draining, to be greeted by the blaring music coming out of TGIF on the corner.
I decided to go for a walk before returning to the gallery in the mall, and ended up in a side street looking at the pumpkins, left over from Halloween. There was not a sound, just me and the pumpkins. We started at each other for a while as the mist-rain cleansed my forehead. I then headed back to the mall, took a breath, and stepped inside. The music was…well, just awful and the kids were already screaming, and the escalator was still squeaking, and every shop had its own playlist.
My moment with the pumpkins was a rare treasure in a society that will not allow introspection. My new office/studio is designed to hold that treasure for both myself and my visitors. Even this website has the treasure of no pop-ups, no cookie-warnings, no tracking, no JavaScript and you don't even need to enter your email to subscribe: you can use an RSS reader and delete the feed when you want.
It breaks my heart as I walk to work when I see children in strollers already glued to the screen as they are hurried off to school. So young and already being taught that external is better than internal.
The treasure needs to be guarded at all costs, for if it is lost, then there is no going-back.