Life is an art
Two weeks ago, while having lunch with the self-proclaimed 'philosophy expert' of our department, I noticed a quote posted by his desk. 'Life is Art ' read the phrase. It seemed to fit in next to his Monet calendar and the latest Dilbert strip, which were carefully tacked to the cubicle wall. After reading this food for thought, I decided to have some fun with my 'intellectually superior' colleague. This paper is a presentation of my argument refuting his coveted quote, but more importantly, it is also a story of how I systematically destroyed his outlook on life (and his opinion of me, atleast until he cools off!).
'Life is Art, huh?,' I began, 'Impossible, it just doesn't work.' Slowly he raised his eyes to meet mine, and with a look of cynicism, he was thinking of a response to my challenge. However, before I would engage him on the battlefield, I wanted to be fair, and asked him to clarify his definition of the quote.
Claude Monet Reading (1872) by Renoir
Claude Monet, photo by Nadar, 1899. Français : Cl...
On the Bank of the Seine, Bennecourt (1868), an ea...'You don't mean, Life is Art as in 'the Arts', right?' I smiled. He smiled back, 'C'mon Jody, I'm dying to hear your take on this.' I explained to him that Life is not Art, because of two reasons. First, Art has no life span. We have objects of Art that have been around since Ancient times. Second, all Life does have a life span. If it didn't, it wouldn't be life. THEREFORE , 'Life is not Art.' 'THAT is your opinion!' he fired back. True enough, but it wasn't any fun to give in just yet. Carefully, I removed the quote from the wall, and with my red pencil, drew a circle with a slash through the entire page! Smiling all the while, I handed him the page and...