Near the end of the Chicago River Architecture Tour the guide plunged into the philosophical branch of aesthetics by stating: We need beautiful buildings around us, because being surrounded by beauty makes us better people.
At the time I was feeling like a hot, thirsty, and tired person, and not especially morally elevated, but I suppose I understand what he was getting at. Over a long weekend in Chicagoland we marveled at the design and architecture of notables such as Frank Loyd Wright, Louis Sullivan, Daniel Burnham, John Wellborn Root, Louis Comfort Tiffany and other more modern artists.
The elegance and beauty of well-considered design certainly is preferable to thoughtless piles of concrete, and there surely is some correlation between our surroundings and our behavior, although perhaps not the direct cause-and-effect that our guide asserted.
But my preference is for another type of Chicagoland beauty.
How many are your works, O LORD!
In wisdom you made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.
Psalm 104:24.
O LORD, you are our Father.
We are the clay, you are the potter;
we are all the work of your hand.
Isaiah 64:8
MAY YOU WALK WITH HEADS HELD HIGH AND LOOK AT THE BIRDS.
(LEVITICUS 26:13 AND MATTHEW 6:26)
My.Bird.Walks. 