Democratic Intimacy

Abstract

Picture a drawing: a large greenhouse, light and airy, housing an innumerable number of tulips, all of them red. In the foreground there is a woman crouching down, breathing in the perfume of the flowers as she tends to them meticulously and lovingly. She is completely absorbed in her gardening. In the background at the entrance to the greenhouse, a man is standing holding a large bouquet of tulips all of which are blue, and that he is about to give her. Blue against red. Red against blue. The danger that they might not understand each other is patently obvious. His is a risky endeavor. And yet, red and blue are about to meet and may even embrace. Perhaps disagreement will not prevent agreement. One is red, the other is blue, but they are red and blue together.