Life on Four Legs
By Brett Gage
20 Jul 2008
We pass by them and use them every day, but generally have few thoughts about them. How many times have you sat down and thought to yourself "I wonder how many people have sat in this exact chair before?" Indeed, these four legged friends endure years of punishment with no say as to who gets to sit. A weary traveler, an expecting mother, a child with a scraped knee. Whether one of a kind or one of a mass produced million, each has its own character, its own history, and its own list of occupants.
You might be asking "A chair's a chair, what's all the commotion?" While this can seem to be true in many instances, especially in waiting rooms or offices, one must look beyond the obvious. I have come to focus on differing colors and styles, numbers, and the context of the chair in a select space. How is it positioned? What kind of people are its primary occupant? How frequently is it even used, if at all? Taking all these observations and questions into consideration, one comes to respect the chair and its use in a greater capacity.
Whether its an armchair behind a store in a side street, a lone seat in the shipping/receiving bay at a university's music building, a swivel desk chair at the end of a parking area, a variety of seats in a dressing room, or multi-colored chairs along the wall in a band practice room waiting to be used, each serves its own necessary purpose.
So go ahead, have a seat.
