Modesty

This is no age to celebrate modesty. Everyone wants to show off, to prove that they have “arrived” and that they are (at least in some way or another) better than anyone else .

An example is houses, where the idea that “a person’s home is their castle” has been raised to extremes which would astonish Louis XIV. More than that, it is a constant striving for even more. Renovations are re-renovated; massive chateaus are “flipped” .

I don’t mind all that. People have a right to enjoy what they want (although I sometimes do worry about effects on the environment). Whatever makes them happy. Beautiful, tacky, stupendously ugly – joy in the eye of the beholder (usually the one paying the bills).

I draw the line at being required to appreciate private marvels. Public works – yes something done for the community can deserve applause. But miserly accretions perched on a hill? Marvelous rooms hidden away? No. The screams of need from plutocrats wanting affirmation of their taste leave me cold .

Modesty serves no purpose in this society. You’ll never get anywhere by smelling a rose rather than posting massive floral arrangements on social media. 

Probably only I consider that a tragedy .