Beautiful Umbrella

It is problematic to want to turn back time. To return to a time. No, to bring to the present that from the past, be it a feeling, an atmosphere or an event.

Nonetheless we cannot help thinking of things from our age that we dislike and comparing that to the time before, longing to remove that specific thing from its past context and bring it to the present, replacing the present equivalent with the perfect form from a lost age. An example of this is the umbrella, or rather, the whole politics of the umbrella in today’s society. In short, the problem of the disposability of umbrellas in our present age.

People are happy to walk around with the ugliest of umbrellas, and the cheapest. It is of no concern if the umbrella is lost or stolen – another one can easily be bought. This goes on and on. People lose their umbrellas because they do not care about them. Ugly, cheap, disposable.

There was a time when umbrellas were well made and very beautiful. They even had strength. With such an umbrella, gone would be the burdensome days of carrying a rain-protector. In fact, it would be a pleasure to carry one – we would no longer have to judge the weather: “should I take an umbrella with me?” “What if it rains later?” We would want it to rain, and would take our umbrellas out with us always in the hope of prompting fate.

The argument for practical value (as opposed to aesthetic) is fine, but even in this scenario we see the same problem: practical and functional should not mean disposable.

Of course, this can be said about many things: kettles, plates, clothes and cars. But there is something about the elegance and the function of the umbrella that makes the lack of concern (and respect) for it particularly offensive. It is difficult to find objections to bringing forth to the present the (now lost) relationship one used to have with their umbrella.