The town in which I live is relatively low on the socioeconomic scale. It’s certainly one of the poorest, most crime ridden communities in Rhode Island.
Yesterday, while walking Chipotle, I ventured down Main Street. The majority of the store fronts are vacant. Like empty eye-sockets, they stare out at the world from the shadows of once grand buildings. The facades, littered with broken windows, are faded and often vadelized.
I wish you could see it. It’s so beautiful.
There’s something so beautiful about the perfect imperfection of the paint chips peeling off of the church’s bell tower or the “f**k you” sprayed across a naked billboard. It’s so real. Few off us can relate to the Statue of David. But who among us doesn’t have a few loose shingles?
It’s like a great symphony of beauty being played out by a slow and steady decay. It’s a familiar song; that same symphony is being played in our lives, as well. We all march to that same beat on our journey to the inevitable.
Today, I embrace the beauty of death. Death is necessary for us to have life. Without death, our lives would be devoid of meaning, purpose and pleasure.
Death is the fertile fields from which life grows.
November 28, 2008 at 8:04 pm
Are you by any chance a poet?
ha
that was very beautiful and deep!
November 28, 2008 at 9:23 pm
Yep…I agree with!
November 29, 2008 at 1:12 pm
That’s why we blog-buddies stick around. In between drooling over his BF du jour and watching neighbors masturbate, Davey Wavey has moments of literary and inspirational brilliance. But then all his moments are well expressed.
November 28, 2008 at 9:24 pm
So the death is a essential thing for our life…yeah, make sense.
November 28, 2008 at 10:26 pm
i wish you posted pictures of it. it sounds like a really good photography opp, I’d love to see it
November 28, 2008 at 11:13 pm
I wouldn’t compare with David because for me they are too different art constructions.I’m not criticizing though.
I agree very much with your thoughts on deaht.Religiously I worship life it self, meaning worshiping death equally.
November 29, 2008 at 1:52 am
just a question but why do you worship death? not being smart but just wondering what you meant exactly
November 29, 2008 at 11:29 am
hehe no problem…
I say that because you can’t worship life without worshiping death (at least in my conception you can’t). Every thing that is born is going to die eventually, is a natural part of all creatures destiny (and I only worship it in this sense),the circle of life.Always meaning change, renew, in tarot for example,the “death card” is a good card to get because of the renew meaning.
November 29, 2008 at 12:40 am
Sweet friend,
A little bit confused, I am, by your so well put words that are truly poetic.
Behind each and every broken window, there is a tragedy. A family that needed to close the doors of something that was once their lives.
Their income. Every shattered door is loaded with tears, with hurt and disillusions. There is nothing beautiful about that.
What I regard as beautiful is the falling of the leaves in autum, for you know in spring that same tree will re-appear in full glory.
Those families that lost their livelyhood, lost a part of their lives, maybe never to recover………
with love,
Steven
November 29, 2008 at 1:48 am
pardon me but i’m on a commenting spree.
i think you see more of the world the way it should be. there is nothing perfect in sadness. just that it is. there are things that give you joy and other things that give you grief. and it’s nice to understand there’s a difference
November 29, 2008 at 1:07 am
Hebrews 9:27- “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.”
Are y’all ready? Better get ready!
November 29, 2008 at 12:30 pm
There is no hell, and there is no heaven, nor is there a judgement.
There is only perception and deeds (action, or karma to some).The quality of your experience depends on your perception and your deeds. If they are wholesome and beneficial, your experience will reflect that.
All things that come to be also cease to be. It is the way of the universe.
November 30, 2008 at 1:54 am
As we have no verifiable account from the beyond, we can not know for absolute
certainty whether either statement is completely true or completely false.
What we do know is the bad things happen to good people, and visa versa.
How do we know that conciousness, at some point, really ceases to be?
Stars live then die, and in their demise, they leave behind the elements that
give birth to new stars. Everything, it seems, comes back in renewed form
or changes into something else.
November 30, 2008 at 1:23 pm
But who will judge the judge?
November 30, 2008 at 1:34 pm
Santa Clause
Ho HO HOO!
November 30, 2008 at 1:45 pm
OK, i think i get the hint: not another discussion
about religion?
But hey, what about a little chat about the
Christmas hype in our society
(not really. i have to order some christmas presents
from amazon -lol- )
November 30, 2008 at 6:58 pm
My initial post was a tonge-in-cheek knee-jerk reaction that I used to hear regarding death when I
went to my old-time baptist church. I wasn’t really looking for a debate, per se.
What are you getting me from Amazon? I need a new magic wand, flying carpets or brooms are always nice,
a floor-length cape (lavender), and a new crystal ball.
If they’re all out of that, then some good German porn will do.
November 29, 2008 at 1:29 am
Davey, Davey, Davey. And you wonder why 1.3 million people read your blog every month? You’re such a f*****g poet.
Personally, I love seeing scenes like the one you just mentioned. These abandoned buildings and boarded-up churches have so many stories and so much history behind them, I always find them fascinating.
To be honest though, I still don’t like the idea of death. It’s something I still have to get used to.
November 29, 2008 at 1:45 am
poetic indeed.. but it’s ok that you don’t like the idea of death. as i said below, i don’t think you have to think everything’s just awesome the way it is!
November 29, 2008 at 1:42 am
hmm.. a bit over the top with the positivity but kudos for always seeing the glass half full, but i think even you were scraping the bottom of the barrel with this one.
your vision of the world through the veil of perfection is not unlike that seen in religion. there is no ‘perfection’ in death. stating that it is death which gives meaning to something as beautiful and precious and enigmatic as life is to me a ridiculous notion.
instead, death is just another part of our life, our reality. it isn’t ‘perfect’, it’s just part of how this universe seems to work. seeing everything including death as ‘perfect’ through this veil would only seem to cloud your mind from true understanding. it makes more sense to see everything as it is, and actually realise what it is, be it the good/bad/happy/sad.
could rant forever, but thoughts are two fast for my fingers to type. it ain’t perfect, just how it is!
as the box title says; just speaking my mind…
November 29, 2008 at 2:22 am
I want to think that death is the opposite of life, once you die, you die to life instead of living a death which is what we do right now, because we are actually dying, slowly but surely. We conclude life with death and in death we conclude it by birth.
November 29, 2008 at 6:01 am
Well Davey if you worked more than 8 hours a week you could spend more, making sure the businesses stay at that main street.
November 29, 2008 at 10:02 am
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. However, when one says they see beauty in broken and scarred buildings, one has to wonder if the observer is living on a cloud or is just passing through life as an uninvolved sightseer. Would it still have the same beauty if it were your apartment building or your place of work ? There is little beauty in the dashed dreams of the business owner, destroyed livelihoods of the workers, or the work of the destroyers who must put their mark on the world by creating an even uglier facade with spray paint, crow bars and brick bats. Graffiti, no matter how artistic is still graffiti. A broken, burned out building no matter how “beautiful” still has less value and purpose than it did in its former useful state when it wasn’t an eyesore and made a contribution to the world around it.
November 29, 2008 at 11:14 am
Davey..you often talk about death…and I wonder if you need someone like me to cheer you UP/give you some loving..so that death does not even enter your mind…Love “your” David
November 29, 2008 at 11:27 am
Aeneas, on his forced journey from his destroyed home city of Troy on his way to found in Italy what would become Rome, is taken by Dido the Semitic queen of Carthage to see the new temples arising in her city. Pictured on the temple doors are scenes of the destruction of Troy. He says: “Sunt lacrimae rerum, et mentem mortalia tangent.” Loosely, “The way the world works brings tears, and things that have died hold their grip on the mind.” This scene/verse used to be part of every schoolboy’s learning, and it resonated even with the young, especially adolescents. Why? Because adolescence is a time of spiritual death. Some say this is because we slay the other sex in us in order to take on a mature sexual identity (but the slain sex haunts us inside). Others that we must put away the dream world of adolescence for the real demands of adulthood. This verse, by the way, is behind the spiritual development in the movie Gladiator. Maximus starts out, as a good pagan, to find happiness in this world through duty, the stoic vitues articulated by the Emperor Aurelius, and the sweet pleasures of domestic life in a world made safe by the rule of Roman law (practiced well, with little corruption, in the western provinces). As his life on this earth is unjustly destroyed he has visions of his wife calling him from the world of death, and in the end he approaches the gate of death with joy because it means he will reunite with his wife and child. This transition also marks the path from a pagan vision of happiness here on earth to the coming medieval Christian view that happiness will be found only after death. Death always touch us because we had parents/family who died and we have died in so many spiritual ways. In that derelict town Wavy walks (Central Falls?) we are touched by the sadness of the failed lives the decay represents but we are also touched aesthetically by the haunting beauty of decayed things. In upper class homes in England and Ireland some things are allowed to decay. They cannot understand the US obsession with clean, new, clean. They like being unable to forget the past even while living in the present.
Just some thoughts from an Old Worlder soul in exile in the US.
November 29, 2008 at 12:40 pm
Astounding how this blog always attracts such insight and erudition along with the more mundane and sensual comments. I suppose that’s why I keep coming back here. Surely Davey Wavey’s teasing exposure of youthful flesh ahs nothing to do with it. (Tongue firmly in cheek.)
Keep posting from exile. It warms the heart.
From one exile to another,
Be well,
November 30, 2008 at 1:37 pm
wow, what an comment!
November 29, 2008 at 11:27 am
The beauty of death resides in the fact that it’s life’s greatest illusion, and like any illusion, can be broken.
And, the transition we call death isn’t what gives life its beauty, it’s life itself, which ultimately is all there is. In the fullness of time we will conquer even the transitional appearance of death, and yet life will be no less beautiful.
November 29, 2008 at 12:37 pm
Your more critical aspirants seem to have missed the point. We cannot alter the choices, successes, or failures of others anymore than we can stop the leaves from changing color in the Fall. What we can control is how we view the outcome. Some posters choose to see urban decay as tragedy and suggest we could have, should have, prevented it. What’s done is done. What’s past is past. Ranting against the social and political forces that shape our lives is fruitless. However, Davey, your decision to live in a rehab building illustrates the type of commitment to positive change that we all should emulate. A friend who is a member of AA has a plaque on his desk which reads, “…grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the strength to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” Maybe we would all be benefit from applying that philosophy to our personal lives?
November 29, 2008 at 1:55 pm
you see beauty in death. I see misplaced energy. new storefronts are being built in new communities. Why?
November 29, 2008 at 3:31 pm
“The one and the same lives in us: the alive and the dead, the waking and the sleeping, the old and the young. Because it is, when it changes, that, and that, when it changes again, it.”
Heraclitus
It is my free translation out of my “History of philosophy” book
November 29, 2008 at 5:16 pm
I have one question. Why would you put yourself and Chipotle in danger by moving to that town?
November 29, 2008 at 6:59 pm
Yeah, it’s great until you get something stolen.
December 5, 2008 at 1:59 am
Haha I was thinking exactly the same thing
Oh well, enjoy it while you can!
November 29, 2008 at 8:34 pm
Wow Davey that´s very nice!
By the way I didn´t know you live in Rhode Island, that´s really cool because you live close to where used to live my favorite horror author H.P. Lovecraft!!!
Be Well!!
November 29, 2008 at 9:33 pm
There are good things about Pawtucket too. The Pawsox. Slater Mill. The Apex turned into the DMV. One of the better artist communities in RI. That one nice section near Blackstone Blvd on the East Side of Prov.
People love to kick our old cities. But without them, there would be no suburbs.
November 29, 2008 at 10:09 pm
Bonjour Davey,
Puisque tu es Canadien j’imagine que tu es bilingue et que tu parles aussi le Francais. J’habite actuellement à Perth dans l”Australie Occidentale .
J’espère que tu viendra bientot en Australie. Voila c’est ma première contribution a ton blog fort intéressant.
a Bientot
de Laurent
November 30, 2008 at 2:43 am
Bonjour Laurent,
je sais que Davey n’es pas un canadien donc je pense qu’il parles pas le français. Son ami est de Toronto.
desollé.
Steven
November 30, 2008 at 1:14 pm
“but who among us doesn’t have a few loose shingles” Love that!
To the above comments on the subject – (without faith) You can’t prove that that there is a heaven/hell and you can’t prove that there isn’t either!
November 30, 2008 at 5:57 pm
LIFE is not the opposite of DEATH. Birth is the opposite. Life is what happens between those two. Thus, you shouldn’t embrace death, you should embrace life. Death is inevitable, deal with it. Life on the other hand isn’t. It’s what you make of it. So enjoy life. You only live once
November 30, 2008 at 6:29 pm
I live two blocks from the “Old Downtown” district in my small town, and it has the same kind of image, peeling paint, vandalism, and empty store fronts. All the real businesses have moved out and set up shop by the freeway. But there is nothing better than the feeling of walking downtown, there is still a little cafe down there and my friends and I treat it like our playground =)
November 30, 2008 at 6:30 pm
“f**k YOU” sprayed across a billboard is not my sense of beauty, but it does show ignorance and disrespect for the residents of the poor people
who are trapped in the community.
December 1, 2008 at 1:14 am
But alas Davey, after death comes rebirth…
And though that rebirth is not always in the form you imagine would be best, it is inevitable nonetheless.
From your descriptions, it sounds like my ol’ home town of Woonsocket is going through another of it’s cycles.
It’s sad to see if you look at it in a melancholy way, but I’m glad to see you are there as a steward to witness it’s newest phase of demise and will likely be witness to it’s attempts at a resurrection, of sorts.
The Thundermist spirit is hard to keep down.