Heroes Not Zombies

These are three photos of some houses opposite the first part of the aqueduct in Segovia.

I’m pretty sure these are pretty regular terraced houses and apartments and this kind of decoration on the outside was actually fairly widespread in the town.

The patterns on the first two remind me of those I saw in the Alhambra in Grenada and the third one seems rather understated in comparison but look carefully. It’s a sort of frieze of pairs of deer, each couple standing facing each other, which is pretty engaging. But look at the pair below the window. They’re crouching down so they don’t bang their heads on the lintel! Such attention to detail.

All too often, it seems to me, our particular form of society has become too utilitarian. Surely the easiest, quickest and cheapest facing on these buildings would be a bland render? And how often it seems that cheapness and so called efficiency are the bottom line decisions. But cheap and so called efficient are rarely beautiful. And they don’t nurture the human heart.

So I was delighted to see that creativity, aesthetics and beauty had won the day here.

One thing this pandemic has shown us is that globalised, just in time, so called efficient and cheap ways of meeting human needs are not very resilient. And, hey, even if they weren’t enchanting, even if they weren’t beautiful or nurturing, surely the least they could be was efficient – as in the best way to do something.

So, folks, can we take a cue from this and turn towards ways of organising, managing and working which nurture creativity, stir the human heart, and value all living creatures over profit and short term goals?

We humans are essentially a creative, highly social species. We’ve expressed ourselves with art and chosen to “adorn” or “embellish” what’s around us since time immemorial. And when we allow those creative and social energies to flow, we flourish.