With the economy the way it is and so many arms of government trying to find ways to cut the budget, those things considered “extraneous” are being hit hard. Schools are cutting back art programs: music, drama, art. Politicians are ready to cut anything that has to do with creative expression. And I am remembering something from a long time ago that made an impression.
We were in China in 1979 ~ very early for tourists as Nixon had only gone there in ’72. We flew from Beijing to Harbin (I think), a short flight on a domestic airline. During the flight I went to the bathroom. Walking down the aisle I realized that the plane was grey. The bathroom was a little grey cubicle. I think I remember a little tiny mirror, hardly big enough to check lipstick if you had wanted to do that. When I returned to my seat, I related the greyness to my husband and said, “I realize we don’t decorate the insides of our planes with lots of color or art, and I could have used one flower or one wall of red or something.”
The arts of all kinds are important to a society. I know there are budget cuts that have to be made and I guess I am optimistic enough to hope we can cut enough across the board that we don’t have to cut any one program totally.
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