Construct without resemblance…
I stopped trying when I couldn’t be them, no where near as successful, creative, or intelligent. It was as though I was a small building in the shadow cast by towering skyscrapers, with no potential to ever be as tall or powerful. I was rampantly told I was a run-down lot of land with no future, which would one day be bulldozed over to clear up space for another skyscraper. Height and stature were their measure of character, not wisdom, personality or anything of substance.
They forgot I was not a rundown old building nearing its end, but a teenager, a building still under construction. If we give buildings time to be built up, shouldn’t we warrant the same to people - young impressionable people? When a building doesn’t have a strong foundation, it crumples under the pressures of natural disasters and crises almost instantaneously. Thus, we spend the most time strengthening the building’s roots, its foundation, before we build a soaring skyscraper over it. Does this not apply to people too? We need time to learn, make mistakes, and explore the world to strengthen our foundation upon which we will build our lives and futures. However, the foundation takes time, more so for some than others, but in the end all of us will be unique, powerful and beautiful - much like buildings. If we are not allowed to time to strengthen our foundation and pillars, we will break before the hazards that come with living life.
Architecture is meant to be unique and only then will a building stand out against the concrete jungle of our cities. Thus, if you replicate a previous building exactly, we lose the singularity of both, and it begins to blend into the crowd of buildings in its landscape. Similarly, we must not be replications or extensions of our parents, mentors, or other role model figures, otherwise we too will be lost in the background.
I want my life to be my own building, unlike any other and curated by my tastes, preferences and experiences - a reflection of me, rather an impression of another regardless of how grand they are. I will not be foreshadowed by my parents’ buildings and lives, but strive of overcome it. If my building offends some and disgusts others, that is their burden to bear, not mine. I will spend time building my foundation, design and construct my building as I see fit, and stand unique and proud against the morbid reality of our concrete jungle of duplicates and monotone.
… Ad Astra,
Cynane