Beauty is a Weapon

I have to be honest. Sometimes, I hear a voice in my head whispering, “Hey! You old, privileged middle class, white lady. What gives you the right to talk about how to fold a napkin and the importance of choosing the right light bulb, or give an explanation about the thread count of sheets when millions of others are barely able to bring a morsel of food to their mouths or find fresh water to drink?”

The voice is harsh and this disconnect between myself and others is very real.

Shortly after I was agonizing about this, I stumbled on Skye Jethani’s book, “Futureville.” This excerpt gave me the perspective I so desperately needed.

“On May 28th 1992, the principal cellist in the Sarajevo opera dressed in his formal black tails and sat down on a fire-scorched chair in a bomb crater to play Albinoni’s Adagio in G minor. The site was outside a bakery in Smajlovic’s neighbourhood where twenty-two people waiting in line for bread had been killed the previous day. During the siege of Sarajevo from 1992 - 1995, more than ten thousand people were killed. The citizens lived in constant fear of shelling and snipers while struggling each day to find food and water. Smajlovic lived near one of the few working bakeries where a long line of people had gathered when a shell exploded. He rushed to the scene and was overcome with grief at the carnage. For the next twenty-two days, one for each victim of the bombing, he decided to challenge the ugliness of war with his only weapon- beauty.

“My weapon was my cello.”

Although completely vulnerable, Smajlovic was never shot. It was as if the beauty of his presence repelled the violence of war. His music created an oasis amid the horror. It offered hope to the people of Sarajevo and a vision of beauty to the soldiers who were destroying the city.”

Offering hospitality is a way we can create space for things that are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, honest, and virtuous.

And so I will continue to share homemaking and hospitality tips as a weapon to fight against the shame and depression that many experience, caused by living in a chaotic home. I will not give up the fight to combat the epidemic of loneliness and I will fight even harder against xenophobia (fear of the “other”).

What’s your beautiful weapon?

A song?

The ability to make and give away money?

A story?

Two cars?

A laptop?

Home-cooked meal?

A hand-made card and stamp?

Hammer and nails?

Soap and dishrag?

Here's to making your small corner of the world be “on earth, as it is in heaven”.