A View from Nowhere

“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”  This quote has become exceedingly popular in the past decade or so and it’s usually attributed to Albert Einstein.  Turns out that he probably never said this.  It also turns out that from a clinical psychology point of view, it’s a bad definition of insanity.  So I guess that repeating the quote and attributing it to Albert Einstein and expecting people to therefore understand something about insanity, is insane.  Whatever.

I think that this comment has found such resonance in our society because we are all guilty of this practice.  Victim to our own habitual patterns of thought, feeling, and behavior, we do the same things in certain situations expecting different, usually better, results.  Even though we are usually disappointed when nothing different happens, rather than changing what we do, we just repeat the procedure.  

The problem we face is that stepping outside of our usual ways of doing things is hard.  First of all we must admit that we need a new approach, which is a blow to our ego.  Then we must search for said new idea, which may require that we get help, something else we don’t like.  These are some of the obstacles we face in becoming ‘sane.’

A couple of weeks ago the Times printed an article about a proposed art center at the old Crookston Cathedral.  This is a proposal put forward by the Prairie Skyline Foundation, same group that owned the old Wayne Hotel.  In the case of the Hotel, this group spent years putting forward one plan after another for restoration projects that were too expensive and wouldn’t cash flow even if they could be built.  Finally, once the Hotel had become a toxic waste dump, it was destroyed.  What we are left with is an ugly, empty lot.

Unfazed by this experience, the Foundation is once again trying to propose grand reconstruction schemes that are too expensive to execute and too expensive to run in our part of the world.  Same behavior, expecting different results.

What’s particularly sad in this case is that there is a better idea of what to do with this wonderful historic structure.  For hundreds of years in Europe and other parts of the world, buildings with cultural and aesthetic value have been turned into controlled ruins set in the midst of beautiful parks.  These structures become wonderful destinations for outdoor activities and tourists who use the settings for weddings, parties, concerts, or picnics.  An old Cathedral in Winnipeg has been turned into just such a ruin and it is one of the most popular destinations in the city. 

The cathedral could be turned into such a structure for a fraction of the cost of restoration.  Best of all, the ongoing upkeep of this approach would be no more than some night lighting and mowing in the summer.  We would preserve the spires for our city and posterity and enhance Central Park.

Unfortunately though, what seems more likely to happen is that the Foundation will doggedly pursue the same loosing strategy that they took with the Wayne Hotel.  Already the interior of the cathedral is thick with animal waste and mold.  It’s unsafe and unhealthy.  And in a few years, after all the impractical ideas have run their course, the powers that be will have no choice but to tear the whole thing down.  

Sadly enough, the process leading us to this result is quite insane.