Jorge Louis Borges

Today there's this note on the Sideways website:

The greatest sin a man can commit is to not be happy.

I agree, but it's hard. And maybe it should be. I've been a sinner myself. Trying to change (I'm in the right direction!). And in the meantime being comforted by the knowledge that I'm in good company. Here's Borges:

Remorse

I have committed the worst of sins
One can commit. I have not been
Happy. Let the glaciers of oblivion
Take and engulf me, mercilessly.
My parents bore me for the risky
And the beautiful game of life,
For earth, water, air and fire.
I failed them, I was not happy.
Their youthful hope for me unfulfilled.
I applied my mind to the symmetric
Arguments of art, its web of trivia.
They willed me bravery. I was not brave.
It never leaves me. Always at my side,
That shadow of a melancholy man.

I'm not sure where this fits in but I've got a feeling I have to add the polaroid I recently found in my parents photo archive. I've been a polaroid addict myself since 2007 when my good friend Christian French (aka Transitman, more about him HERE ) gave me a beautiful sx-70 polaroid camera. What I love most about polaroid (or "impossible film" as it is called since Polaroid doesn't produce the material any more) is that you can't influence the process or the result. You just push the button and out comes an amazingly perfect tiny world you can hold in your hands.

I wonder what they are looking at, my mother and father, what is depicted on the photo they hold in their hands. I wonder if it holds the secret to the risky and beautiful game of life. Or maybe this is what every polaroid photo by nature holds. Maybe that's why I fel in love with the polaroid. Because they will me bravery. And at times even give me the opportunity to be brave. And happy.

 

More polaroids and impossible images HERE.