A garden at the Kimbell. Completely free.
Kahn means that a garden provides a transition from inside to outside and visa versa. But he could also mean that they provide an escape from the troubles of life, because they are welcoming and free. You can easily walk into a garden and forget about your insignificant problems and at the same time be reminded of nature and the larger world. The narrator in The Other Side of the Hedge is so concerned with getting somewhere that he doesn’t realize it when he’s already gotten somewhere worth staying.
This lesson is a truth about life and the skewed values of people in the modern age. So many are so concerned with achieving their preconceived ideas of success that they overlook the things that really make a person successful.
Money is a big concern in capitalist society and it is usually the first thing people associate with success; however, most people would agree that money does not always bring happiness. What is the reason for this inconsistency? People view money as an indication of success, yet there seems to be little to no relationship with money and happiness. The only conclusion I come to is that success and happiness are viewed as two separate goals, even conflicting goals. The conflict between happiness and success can be seen in this statement by the narrator of Forster’s story about his brother, “he had wasted his breath on singing and his strength on helping others. But I had traveled more wisely, and now it was only the monotony of the highway that oppressed me…” (Forster). The narrator’s brother is happy, yet the narrator views his own unhappiness as the wiser more successful route and his brother’s happiness as foolish. This paradox is so surprising in the context of the story, but it is so consistent with the way people actually behave. People are so careful about spending money or time doing something that they know will make them happy just so they can have that money and time later, but for what? What makes some later acquisition money or time better spent than a current one? It is true that immediate gratification can frequently result in a much less happy future and that sometimes people must make sacrifices for their future happiness, but people can so easily get caught up in the idea of saving money that they never stop to think what they are saving it for and if this ultimate goal is even worth all the sacrifices they have made along the way. People spend all of their time working, neglecting family and friends for what they think is a worthwhile cause, but in the end they have done nothing but waste life that could have been spent in happiness. Retirement is what many Americans spend their entire life looking forward to. They say ‘I hate my job, but it will all be worth it when I retire,’ but will it? That seems like a complete waste to me, to spend the majority of life doing something you hate. What level of happiness could possibly make all of those years of unhappiness worthwhile? The narrator of The Other Side of the Hedge sees the paradise and leaves it because it does not lead anywhere. He would rather spend an indeterminable amount of his life in misery and monotony trying to get somewhere rather than enjoy what he has already found.
A garden reminds us of what we have already found. The Tower Garden is more like Kahn’s vision of a garden in that it is completely free, allowing students to walk in or walk out at any point. Forster’s garden is not free in the sense that you can easily walk in and out, but it is in that it frees people from their insignificant concerns and fruitless goals. Similarly, the Tower Garden at UT invites students to take a break from studying, and instead spend some time doing something that they want to do, whether or not it is spent in the actual garden. Maybe this is what Kahn really meant when he made that statement about gardens.
The Tower Garden reminds students not to spend all their time worrying about future goals and success, but to always try to live happily.
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