Making Something Out Of Nothing
A thought experiment...
In Ilkeston, England, there is a nondescript hole in the outside brick wall to the NatWest bank building. It was put there because people using the adjacent ATM were uncomfortable with not know if anyone was standing on the other side of the wall while they were pulling cash out of the machine. Why, according to TripAdvisor, has this hole become one of the most popular "things to see and do" in Ilkeston?
Because. That's why.
Originally created for practical reasons, it has become imbued with meaning beyond it's design or purpose. The remarkable thing about this Ilkeston landmark isn't what's there - the wall - it's what's not there - the hole. The empty space and the meaning people have attached to it is what makes this wall interesting. In the case of the NatWest Hole, the meaning is all in good fun. (Read the TripAdvisor reviews. Laugh. Enjoy the rest of your day.) The nothingness of the hole has become such a positive attraction the locals are contributing to it's growing fame.
I love stories like this. People are attracted to what's not there - the hole - and have an enjoyable experience by going out of their way to visit nothing for no other reason than to join the fun and build the hole's reputation for silliness. But the NatWest Hole accomplishes something more. It reveals a facet of the human spirit that seems to be under siege these days: Our unique ability to accentuate the silly things in life and by doing so lessen the burden of the genuinely serious issues that must be dealt with in our daily lives.
The NatWest Hole is on the far end of the continuum of things we can make fun of. The wall doesn’t care it’s a wall and the hole doesn’t care it’s a hole. It is us who care and in the case of the NatWest Hole, it’s safe to amplify and mock what it’s come to represent.
As a thought experiment, think of something that’s of such importance to you that you would never poke fun at it. What happens if you nudge it down the spectrum, maybe even slide it all the way down to sit next to the NatWest Hole. What does this reveal about your treasured belief.
Places like the NatWest Hole also accentuate the toxic levels pretentious self-absorption so prominently on display in First World society. I've viewed exhibits in modern art museums that conveyed less meaning than the NatWest Hole. I think, too, of the luxury beliefs described by Rob Henderson - vast amounts of energy expended just to support wasted space in our minds and deserving nothing more than our mockery.
Image Credit: DavoGregorious, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
