In today's selection, we have the characters eating a meticulously prepared meal. The narrator discusses this in comparison to receiving a gift from an artist (pg 77):
"To have left even the tiniest morsel in the dish would have shown as much discourtesy as to rise and leave a concert hall before the end of a piece under the composer's very eyes."
This got me thinking about all the small things we dedicate our lives to. These are art forms that we become better and better at over the years, and yet they never get recognized as such.
As in this section of the book, the obvious one is cooking. Some people love cooking or baking and really get into all the subtleties of it without ever formally training or pursuing it as a career.
Other people get really into coffee or tea. Think about the how much attention goes into Japanese tea making and presenting. These small things are all around us: calligraphy, blogging, games and sports, gardening, and so on.
Any hobby pursued with enough passion can be an art form. But because it isn't our vocation, it tends to get tossed aside as insignificant. We can unintentionally hurt people in this way, especially if the hobby is presented as a gift to you.
This is especially true when you don't understand how seriously someone takes something. Everyone has their own taste, but imagine perfecting a dish over a decade and serving it to someone only to have them say "It's fine."
It can feel like someone has ripped something out of you. All that work, and for what? Just to have it shrugged off like it's nothing.
I remember doing this when I was younger. My aunt makes the amazing and elaborate greeting cards that involves sewing string through it. She's become extremely good over literally decades of doing it.
When I first moved out of the house, I got one. My parents tried to get me express my amazement at it in front of her and I just said something any moody kid would say. I don't know if it hurt her feelings or not, but I've come to appreciate the time and attention it takes to make these now.
I'm going to try to take this into consideration going forward. I want to appreciate the little arts we fill our lives with and show that appreciation to the people who do these things.