Permission to Create

Remember this?

I couldn’t help thinking of this image when the internet threw this one at me recently.

The caption read: 

This sign is probably meant to be read from bottom to top, but it just reads as a bunch of gibberish. Did they have something against a plain old Christmas tree? Why get creative? It could also be that the letters were piled up at random.

Everyone’s a critic.

The first photo shows what I believe was probably a goof, although it could have been a prank. If anyone knows the truth, send it my way! But the second picture, though equally amusing/puzzling, came about for a different reason. The caption touches on the cause.

Why get creative?

That’s it in a nutshell. Somebody got creative. They had a concept but they hadn’t envisioned the end result as clearly as they might have. Oops.

Still, this isn’t an issue of enormous magnitude. It’s a pretty big jump from scratching your head at the outcome to outright challenging the creative process. 

Why get creative?

Why, indeed? Even though Columbia was itself founded in a multi-pronged, multi-faceted explosion of creative thought, breathtaking in its audacity, still we see pushback against present-day creativity. 

• What if I don’t like it?
• What if I think it looks silly?
• What if I think it’s too gaudy?
• What if I think Rouse wouldn’t like it?
• What if my ideas are the only good ideas?
• What if I think Columbia belongs to me and my friends and you can’t change it without my permission?

I wasn’t around to bear witness, but there must have been at least a few things that were a part of the Pioneer years in Columbia that some HoCo folks didn’t like, or thought were silly, or gaudy, or a bad idea. And there were probably a few things that didn’t work out as expected, despite the best intentions of their creators. I’d say that’s okay.

Why get creative?

Because creativity is a part of creation. And creation is life. And life means dreaming, and trying, and stumbling, and reaching for a better way all the time. It may, from time to time, be messy. Like the odd sign for the Mallumbia in Col or a jumbled Christmas greeting. 

I’m good with that. I think it’s all a part of being alive, something that I hope Columbia will be for a long time to come.

Celebration in the Woods Advent Calendar: 

https://calendar.myadvent.net/?id=11dfaa56f70578e204b73fee207a6441