Rana, your post reminds me of another scene in the movie, "Harold And Maude."
After Maude tells Harold that, were she to be a flower, she'd like to be a sunflower. She then asks, "What flower would you like to be?" Harold responds, gesturing to a field of daisies, "Maybe one of those, because they're so alike." Maude, "Oh but they're not. Look closer. Some are fatter, some thinner. Some lean to the left, some to the right. Some have petals missing, and we haven't even touched on the biochemical. Each is like a different person, never existed before and never to exist again, an individual. You see, Harold, sometimes I think that much of the world's sorrow comes from people who know they are this (she holds up one beautiful daisy) and yet allow themselves to be treated as that (Maude gestures broadly to the group of daisies. Camera pulls back to reveal a field full of daisies in the middle of a very large military cemetary with lookalike tombstones. A Cat Stevens song begins...)
Earlier in the film, Maude exits a civilian cemetary, following a group of mourners who are all dressed in black. Contrary to their lookalike black raincoats, Maude is wearing a yellow sunflower-colored one...a veritable flower in a sea of darkness. It reminds me of the funerals in New Orleans where each mourner is wearing wild colorful outfits in CELEBRATION rather than mourning of a life.
Rana, I agree with you that expensive suits can look gorgeous. I remember once seeing a famous politician in person, up close. While I had always abhored wearing suits and ties because it seemed like a bland uniform, I saw that this multi-thousand dollar suit was quite different. Like Maude's lament on the beauty of a single daisy, it is possible to be an individual despite a seemingly conformiing outfit. But how much easier it is if the paint on your palette has more colors than grey, dark blue or black. Think of all the great paintings that might never have occured had the palette been that limited.
It's interesting also how women, despite the wider range of colors, can end up conforming to a mass taste. After the recent Bush state of the union speech, one of the news commentators pointed out how MOST of the female congresspersons wore red suits -- The commentator stated, "it's like a uniform." I guess, secretly, we all want to belong to something bigger, to be part of the whole.
Still, like Maude, I'd rather be a sunflower.
Teri Anne
