In the new Oreo advertisements there is an ongoing debate
about which is the better part of the Oreo, the cookie or the cream. Of course everyone has their own favorite
part and their own opinion on which is best.
My nephew however was able to cut through the chatter and debate with a
piece of wisdom that can only come from a child: Both. The question isn’t cookie or cream, it has to
be cookie and cream. Neither of them is
really as good on its own. The cookie by
itself is too bland, the cream is too sweet.
Only when the two come together do we have that classic cookie loved for
generations.
This same concept can be used in quilting as well. There needs to be contrast, light and dark,
in every quilt. True, some quilts will
have more contrast than others, but there are still lights, mediums and darks. Not only does this make the patterns stand
out, but it adds interest. A quilt made
only of one color, one hue, and one shade, would not be very interesting to
look at, no matter how well the quilt has been pieced. You need contrast.
In Life we must take the sweet with the sour, the light with
the dark, and the good with the bad. Though
sometimes we may wish for a life of more calm tranquility, where things don’t
go wrong, shirts don’t get stained, glasses never break, and hearts are never
hurt. But this would be like having just
cream with no cookie. And I think we all
know that can only lead to a sticky sweet mess.
Just as we need the light to help us through the times of darkness, we
need the darkness to truly appreciate the times of light. After all, life is like a roller-coaster,
without ups and downs, it’s just boring.
