To savor or to save?

E.B. White, in an interview with The New York Times in 1969, said:

If the world were merely seductive, that would be easy. If it were merely challenging, that would be no problem. But I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve (or save) the world and a desire to enjoy (or savor) the world. This makes it hard to plan the day.

Those are the words of a kindred spirit. There’s something about beauty that is at once inspiring and heartbreaking. When I see something beautiful, I feel an immediate impulse to rejoice, and a simultaneous impulse to preserve it. To strengthen the things that remain.

A crumbling Cathedral in Nicaragua.

Photo by Fritz Liedtke. You can see more of Fritz’s work at these links:
www.fritzphoto.com
www.fritzphoto.com/arts
Visit the blog: www.fritzphoto.com/blog

Tags:

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 27th, 2010 at 5:20 pm and is filed under Journal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

2 Responses to “To savor or to save?”

  1. tyler Says:
    April 27th, 2010 at 8:17 pm

    Andy Goldsworthy talks about that tension in Rivers and Tides.

  2. Rick Ro. Says:
    April 28th, 2010 at 9:36 am

    Wonderful words and insight. The scriptures, too, are loaded with similar tensions, such as the tension between restoration (with God) and living only for the world.

    This got me wondering: How many people in today’s society are basically sleep-walking through life, having no desire to improve/save the world NOR having a desire to enjoy/savor it? And is that a sadder state of being than the person who has no desire to improve/save the world, but at least wants to enjoy/savor it?

    Then it got me thinking of Ecclesiastes, that all the good we do for the world is meaningless without restoration with God.

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.