Notes on Destruction

Sometimes on Top Chef, contestants will make a dish so awful that the judges won't just be disappointed, they'll be offended. One of the comments they often make in situations like this is that the contestant 'disrespected the ingredients,' which, at first, seems odd. After all, the ingredients don't care one way or the other, right? They're dead. However, their death is the point.

We end life to create food. Plant, animal, fungus, it doesn't matter. Life was ended so we could sustain our own. When you cook, you destroy things in order to create something. To do so without mindfulness is disrespectful. There is a long and painful process to get ingredients into our hands.

I try to have a healthy relationship with destruction. As a society, we always view it with horror. We often view it from the position of someone passively watching it. And sometimes, that is how it goes down. I live in Oklahoma. We have a lot of tornadoes that tear through a lot of things.

However, we, all of us, are also destructive. All life is. Destroying is part of our function. Plants destroy things. Bacteria destroys. Anyone who has ever had a puppy knows that animals can destroy things. Destruction is one of our tools to survive.

But as living beings, part of our magic is that we can connect that destruction to new creation. We can weave fabrics, cook meals, build homes. We can take the raw materials left in destruction's wake and make new things. Best of all, we can create things that suit our needs better than the ones that existed before.

In the earlier part of the year, I redecorated my bedroom. I culled nonfunctioning items. I rearranged the closet, the bookshelf, and the math. I deconstructed a desk to make room for other things. I slit material to make curtains. I bought a new bed. There were days when my room looked like utter chaos, but I had a plan. I had a vision. I knew what needed to change and I made that happen.

When something is not working for you, you DO have the right to destroy it. Hell, maybe not just the right, but the obligation, as respect for yourself and those you love, to destroy it. It will look scary for a while. And it will terrify everyone who views destruction from a passive position.

HOWEVER..........

When you begin to dismantle something when you decide it is time to destroy and rebuild, HAVE A PLAN. Not just a vague idea of what you want to happen, but an actual plan. Know what outcomes you want. Have plans and paths to get there. To just destroy mindlessly and leave a mess for someone else to clean up is immature and disrespectful. Moreover, it's dangerous. If you don't rebuild what you destroyed in a way that works for you, someone else will rebuild it....and their way may prove to be worse than what you tore down in the first place.