Material matters

OZYMANDIAS
I met a traveller from an antique land

Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone

Stand in the desert.

Near them on the sand,

Half sunk, a shatter'd visage lies, whose frown

And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command

Tell that its sculptor well those passions read

Which yet survive, stamp'd on these lifeless things,

The hand that mock'd them and the heart that fed.

And on the pedestal these words appear:

"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:

Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!

"Nothing beside remains: round the decay

Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,

The lone and level sands stretch far away.

-Percy Bysshe Shelley

Hiya Lovelies,

Now, I'm not attempting to display my literary depth here - though if you noticed that, I really appreciate it- I just stumbled on a poem which happened to be one of my favourites in secondary school. It speaks of the futility of materialism: how we acquire and acquire, priding ourselves in being the only ones who have these things, or that many of these things, etc. (Tracy Chapman's 'Mountains O' Things' is another artistic work that I love, which speaks of this issue.) But I really want to go to Shelley's 'Ozymandias', today because it evokes specific feelings in me.

Have you ever felt in awe of someone because of the person's material possessions or physical attributes? Or intimidated by someone for these reasons? Well, I have, and it used to really bother me. And I would be more bothered when the aforesaid person really let it be known that he/she is 'all that'. That is kind of what the poem speaks of when it says, "My name is Ozymandias... look on my works... and despair", a very intimidating coinage, huh? It describes the sculpture as having a 'sneer of cold command'. (You know 'that look'.)

At the end of the day , years after, despite its size,its import, it turned to rubble '..two vast and trunkless legs of stone... nothing beside remains: round the decay of that COLOSSAL WRECK ...'. so how did my 'all that' people turn into 'colosal wrecks'? Dont worry, I'm not going to tell you a story about how time heals everything. But the solution was a bit far-fetched and is not for the acrophobic.

I always try to secure a window seat when I fly. I guess my claustrophobia is stronger than my acrophobia.( I'm not showing off, I swear.) When the plane takes off, and it gains height, everything begins to look little . People, cars, houses, everything. They all look like toys. And you really can't distinguish a gorgeous babe from an ugly one, a jeep from a jalopy, or a mansion from a BQ. And everytime that happens I always wonder, what the heck is the point? What's the point of all the 'shakara', the falseness, the pride? We are all people in the eyes of the Creator. And we can only become bigger in His sight when we move closer to help each other. That's the way I feel whenever I see from that angle. Just thought I'd share that with you.

How Ya Living

Chili