The World Is Boring Because We’re Afraid of Embarrassment

Streetlights have lost their magic and turned to LED. The poetry of our surroundings is gone in every vent cover, light switch, and transit-way. Visit any city, and you can’t tell the difference between them from one to the next—all strip malls, franchises, and maybe a few historically distinctive landmarks blur together in an American traveler's mind. 

We may find solace in the ruins of European architecture where a civilization once stood tall, because the new constructs in our world hardly compare to the majesty of that rubble. What led to such destruction?

In the name of mass production, functionality, and profits, products are released, and buildings are built for as little conflict as possible. No room for people to think that the styles are too foreign, too expensive, too outdated, too… beautiful. It is the lowest common denominator for the lowest price. New home constructions turn out cookie-cutter abodes branded as “timeless” or “farmhouse” by whitewashing walls, choosing bland wood, and preparing renters to move in, never able to make the space their own but instead surrounded with neutrals informing their style, desires, and interests. Utility, speed, and consumers are the focus rather than aesthetic richness or contemplative experience. There is no room for disagreement. 

But neutrality of aesthetics must not be confused with what is good. While minimalism aims to attract everyone and offend no one, that is the opposite of transcendent beauty.

We are surrounded by a gray world geared toward niceties with no room for differing opinions, which has become all but boring. The lackluster offerings of our city squares, churches, and libraries are forcing younger generations, in the best cases, backward towards nostalgia, classic literature, traditional worship, and antiques, and, at its worst, towards social isolation and self-harm. We are starved for meaning in our lifeless world.

Those who are aiming to revive character and distinctive culture again are doing so, but at a cost. Choosing the well-worn antiques, rebuilding a centuries-old dilapidated home, or reading primary sources before making an opinion are paying the dues a soured society hates most: cringe. To be the one who stakes your style, your interests, and legacy on something so definitive as transcendent Truth, goodness, and beauty is intimidating, as it’s rarely seen in our world. It creates friction. Perhaps it is a little embarrassing.  

If we want to renew a world with character, we cannot do so without cringe. We cannot revive a world of color, culture, and rich community without friction. By reintroducing objects with weight– printed books with divisive ideas, physical journals, architecture with ornament, and clothing worn with dignity, we will establish a civilization worth emulating again. As women, whose calling is to beautify, this is our burden to bear. Friction must not be looked at as a challenge to efficiency, but as an anchor.

Formation of a civilization, of a family, or even your own personality requires slowness, depth, attention, and limitation. It requires a little challenge. So be embarrassing and create friction. Don't be afraid to be seen as cringy for choosing something different. Ask big questions and decorate with color, even if it's not the color of the year. Color, details, and items imbued with meaning aren’t just for vacations; they should inform us every day.

As classically feminine beautifiers, it is our job to preserve a world of poetry. But to do so, we must risk the embarrassment of being different. 

Read more about creating a Legacy in our Legacy Edition of The Swish Magazine here.