Someone wrote, "Shut up about design and go work in a soup kitchen."
Well, Mr. Self Righteous Potty Mouth, this blog is for you. You may find them shallow, but there are deeply compassionate people who are compelled all day, every day to take a thing and cultivate it. Here's a true story about one of them.
Elsie de Wolfe, had incredible taste. She was the only person in the world who did. Really. The only one. A wealthy, elegant, privileged woman, famous in her time, she had a manifesto. It was this: "I will make everything around me more beautiful. That will be my life.". And true to her words, for a lifetime, she made things beautiful. For the Morgans, the Vanderbilts, the Guggenhiems and herself.
One day, she left Fifth Avenue and the high, safe ground of New York City. She went to a place devastated by a world war, at a time when Europe had been brought to the brink of destruction, while millions of the dying were burying their dead. She volunteered as a nurse during WWI surrounded by amputees and gangrene. Unimaginable suffering was alleviated by her unimaginable kindness.
When it was over, she returned to NY, began designing again, went to parties, hosted parties. Cole Porter wrote a song about her.
Good, kind, generous people may love design or maybe instead they love books, or film, their cats, their kids, music, college football, good wine, a good haircut, their tea roses or Kim Kardashian. You know this because they don't shut up, except about the good they do for others. If you're working in the soup kitchen, you'll come across them. Otherwise, you'll never know.
So just back off. ~ Carolyn in Mexico
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