I hope you are enjoying this selection of original napkins from 1998-2004 while I am on vacation. Comment when you are so inclined. I would love to hear any of your thoughts in these ideas.
The snake and the turtle have been buddies in my work since at least the mid-1980s. They are often telling two opposite sides of the story sometimes the snake being the antagonist, but often being the sweet singing snake with no evil attached. The Turtle is more often a positive figure, sometimes telling a needed truth, other times just saying something wise or witty.
While away from my studio I am posting vintage napkins of 1998-2004.
That is one of the hardest things about growing older, your ignorance diminishes. In most things that is good. It is good to be more knowledgeable, more educated, less bound by superstition or childish fears. But in the area of career and effort, especially of the creative variety, ignorance of what can’t be done, what shouldn’t be tried, what hasn’t ever worked, can allow you to attempt the impossible. And that is the only way the impossible is ever achieved, by attempting it!
So, stay ignorant of your alleged limitations and go for it.
When my kids were growing up we did not have cable. We didn’t have MTV and I never saw many of the Jackson collection of videos. I did however see him on TV, in particular the Motown 25th Anniversary show.
I remember being so completely amazed at his dancing, his style, his incredible presence. That is what I am talking about today. We all have our demons, our ‘bads’ and our evils. He had his and no excuses need be given for them.
But he could dance and he could sing and he could entertain. Nothing wrong with celebrating that.
We often think of a quote like this as being about seeing more about a person the brighter the light. More wrinkles, more flaws, etc. But what I think about is seeing something new and different about the person.
The person under the lamplight soliciting I see a certain way. That same person at a pool of an apartment complex, swimming hard for exercise, sunbathing and reading a book I will see a different way. That same person is at the grocery store, the DMW, their child’s recital, the dentist or volunteering at a soup kitchen, all under different lights, and I will see them differently once again.
Who is that person? Will she be judged by her solicitation or by her love for her child or her healthy habits or something else?
What light do you see people under? What light do you see yourself under?
“What is true by lamplight is not always true by sunlight.” – Joseph Joubert, French writer, 1754-1824
What did you want to be? Once in a while I think of all the careers I could have had, what I could have achieved.
When I was a kid most people said I should be a lawyer because I could argue so well. I never wanted to become a lawyer. I did, however, want to be President since my parents were such big fans of JFK at the time and it seemed a very cool thing to be.
I have been told that I should have been a therapist. I have never wanted to be a full-time therapist, but I did want to be a preacher. I like the idea of thinking deep thoughts and then telling other people about them.
I have been told I should have been a masseur. I never wanted to be a full-time masseur, but I did want to take classes and learn more. I haven’t done that yet.
I had the heritage that said maybe I should be a pilot. I never wanted to be a full-time pilot, but I always loved to fly and see the world from above in a small plane. I don’t fly anymore, but maybe someday I will again.
I was told I should be a teacher. I actually was a teacher at the college level for 9 years. I loved it. I tried to land a full-time job as a teacher and never made it. I miss being a teacher and perhaps will again someday.
I was never told I should be an artist. Do you know why? Because everyone already knew I was going to be an artist. I don’t think anyone ever thought I would not be an artist. I am glad I am an artist.
It doesn’t mean there aren’t other things I wish I could have done and been. I think any curious and enthusiastic person has more things in their wish list than they can actually accomplish in one life.
I prefer that to having no wish list.
What did you want to be?
“It’s not what you are, it’s what you don’t become that hurts.” – Oscar Levant
I have thought about ‘moments’ a lot over the years. Mostly I have focused
on the arrival of a moment, when something happens that demands you
make a decision about how to respond. That moment when you must
choose an ethical or moral path.
For example, a friend wrote recently about taking dance lessons.
There was a moment in the first group lesson where one of the other
students was about to be left out of an activity. People had paired up and
my friend could see this young woman, shy and nervous, wasn’t going
to be included. Nobody’s fault, no evil intentions, just how it played out.
The girl was shrugging her shoulders at the teacher’s encouragement.
My friend had a moment. A moment to decide which direction she would
go. She chose to lightly slap the girl on the arm and say ‘Hey, let’s just go for it’
and the lonely student, the teacher and my friend did the routine together
and had fun. That was all it took.
It’s a simple moment in which you decide to be kind, to be loving, to be forgiving.
It’s that moment when you know you are creating your character and you
create it. Then you smile at yourself for doing the good thing and look for
the next moment with joy.
A circular dilemma: you want to be noticed, seen, known, paid attention to. You do what you can to make that happen. Then you realize that the ‘you’ that got the attention made the rest of ‘you’ invisible. So, you try to downplay the attention-getting part and you discover you are still mostly invisible. You don’t like that so you go back to emphasizing the parts that got looked over. Then you feel the rest of you is invisible again.
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“It’s better to be looked over than to be overlooked.” – Mae West
This is the Napkin Dad’s #1 in the list of things I hope I have imparted to my daughters. It’s #1 because it won’t matter if they want to be a secret agent or an insurance agent. They will understand that enthusiasm is the backbone of achievement, purpose, satisfaction and joy.
Happy Father’s day to those who are, and Happy ‘you ain’t a father yet’ day to those who aren’t. If you have one on the way, it’s wonderful. Be ENTHUSIASTIC!
What is an absurdity? It is something that is not believable IF you are paying attention and thinking it through. You have to purposely ignore evidence that is easily in reach and you have to have a pre-existing (even if unconscious) desire to believe the absurdity for it to persuade you.
How does it lead to atrocities? If you believe, as people of many races have over the centuries, that people of other races are not fully human, then denying them rights (or killing them) is easily rationalized.
If you believe, as people of many religions have over the centuries, that people of other religions are eternally damned, then treating them as less than human (or killing them) is easily rationalized.
If you believe, as people of many political persuasions have over the centuries, that those who don’t believe in the same way of governing as you do are evil and corrupt, then keeping them from being politically involved (or killing them) is easily rationalized.
If you believe, as people of both genders have over the centuries, that women are less intelligent and able than men, then oppressing them (or killing them) is easily rationalized.
Where did those actions come from over the centuries? From believing absurdities.
“Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.” – Francois-Marie Arouet (Voltaire)
To my dear east coast friends who have been deluged with rain this spring and summer, only thing to do is go stomp in some puddles! It’s all about
the attitude, right?
My daughter, Chelsea Coleman, owns ‘Bootstrap Farm’ with her husband, Don Drury. They grow organic and natural veggies and sell them to the local restaurants and at the Cherry Street farmer’s market here in Tulsa.
She was part of a panel discussion last night during Local Food Week here in Tulsa. I was very proud of her and her contribution to the discussion. Oh, and yes. I take credit for all that she is, of course.
A big part of the discussion was about the health and environmental benefits of buying locally grown foods as much as possible. The processing, shipping and storing of food coming from far away can make diseases and spoilage more frequent among other problems.
The best reason to buy and eat locally though is to become part of your community. Day to day not knowing your neighbors or farmers or small business owners may not be a big deal. But over years you realize that you have no connections to your world, your land or your town. It isn’t a good feeling. Get out and connect, enjoy, meet, buy, frequent, get to know and love where you are planted and see if you don’t grow better than before as well!
“Shipping is a terrible thing to do to a vegetable. Think of the jet lag!” – variation of a quote from Elizabeth Barry
There are a lot of people who take pride in being ‘honest’ and ‘saying it like it is’. There are the positive elements of this in business and in personal lives.
But there is another type, the random type. It is seductive to think they are more honest, more real, more truthful than the rest of us and hold some special place in honesty heaven as a result. But if you really, truly look at what comes out of their mouth, most of the time it isn’t really about honesty and some exalted sense of forthrightness.
In those random cases it is about two other things. One, it is about not knowing boundaries, not knowing when to shut up. Two it is about enjoying the power to shock and get a reaction.
This is especially important to help teenagers to understand. Verbal ‘honesty’ has a purpose, it isn’t just a lack of self-control, or a weapon. It is used to help people or situations. You can be honest about your mother or father or friend having trouble with alcohol. You can be honest with your spouse about your feelings. That is legitimate. But to just spout off supposed truths because you are the ‘honest’ type is an immature and mean-spirited thing to do. Teaching our children the difference, when to use ‘honesty’ and when to shut up, is one of the best things we can do for them.
“The person who always says just what he thinks at last gets just what he deserves.” – anonymous
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This is ‘Didchya Know?’ Monday
In the last month the Napkin Dad Daily has been visited by 15 universities from around the world.
It seems to me that the desperation for fame usually does not lead to it, it just leads to more desperation, then disappointment. The key is to not ignore the possibility of fame, but to understand it’s reason.
The question can be asked about anything that is pursued for its own sake. Why stay fit? So you can live a long life in health? Why live a long life? So you can do what exactly? What will you do with that long life? What will you do with that fame? What is the reason for reaching for those things (and many others)?
Pursue the next question after the question. See where that leads.
“Fame usually comes to those who are thinking about something else.” – Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
Simple enough. What is the difference between the two? Your attitude. And it is your willingness to admit that it is your brain, your thoughts, that define the events you go through. They don’t have one definition that is set it stone. They have a definition set in your skull. Redefine what it is that is happening to and around you and that really is what is happening to and around you.
When you believe that, and practice it again and again, then you will have such incredible adventures, such joyously unexpected fun, you will just have to dance with happy feet.
One of our cats is nearing the end of her life. In honor of her and her best friend, my step daughter, I am going to do a few drawings about pets this week.
“Ignorant people think it is the noise which fighting cats make that is so aggravating, but it ain’t so; it is the sickening grammar that they use.” – Mark Twain
I know some will say God is the exception here, but look at the understanding of who God is over the centuries, what he is made out of, how he/she acts and interacts and his reason for existing and you will see that he/she has changed as well.
This is a wonderful, hopeful statement for many. But for others it fills them with fear. Fear of change, fear of fluidity. I can’t stop that fear in you if you have it. But I can ask you to look at the evidence from your own past about what change has brought to you. Has it been as terrible as you envisioned beforehand? Did the imagined disaster actually take place? Go by the actual evidence and you will see, change is not only inevitable, but it is usually
good.
The key is to be aware in the present about what is available for you to love, to be excited about, to be hopeful about. Whether it is an empty nest or a newly discovered bird’s nest in your favorite backyard tree. There is beauty and wonder that awaits you.
“The one unchangeable certainty is that nothing is certain or unchangeable.” – John F. Kennedy, 32nd President of the USA, 1917-1963
As much as we would like to be in the former category of ‘good example’, who among us is actually in both categories depending on which nook or cranny of our lives people are looking at.
One of my great role models is a wonderful example of being a good man. But he is a great warning of what happens if you are too much of a pack rat too!
A good friend is an example of a focused and deliberate career path to success and wealth. At the same time, a warning of the loneliness that comes from ignoring you family and friends and ending up without either over the decades.
What is in you as a good example and a horrible warning? Let us know, leave a comment about it!
“If you can’t be a good example, then you’ll just have to be a terrible warning.” – Catherine Aird, 1930 – not dead yet, British Author
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Today is Geographic Monday!Cities ending in N who visited you favorite Napkin
blog this past week. Seems the USA has a lot of cities ending in N compared to
the rest of the planet. I wonder why.
Hamilton, Bermuda
Penicton, British Columbia, Canada
Houston, Texas, USA
Sheyboygan, Wisconsin, USA
Newton, Massachusetts, USA
Dayton, Ohio, USA
Berlin, Connecticut, USA
Binghamton, New York, USA
Ashburn, Virginia, USA
By the way, I do hope this is your favorite Napkin blog. If it isn’t tell meabout my competitors so I can wipe them up with my napkins!
Oh oh, treading on thin ice here! This quote makes sense to me because the statement that you don’t believe there is a god is one statement, from which all other statements or beliefs about God disappear. If there is a God he/she might be offended, who knows.
A religion, meanwhile, goes to the opposite extreme. It tries to define God to the nth degree. It explains the who, what, where, when and why of everything. It explains the government of the after-life and the social structure, what feelings you will and will not have, what emotions, etc. It explains how long the after-life will last (hint; it is a LONG time). In other words, it explains more than than it can possibly know. If there is a God, he or she might be offended by that as well.
Which extreme is more offensive?
Having said that, what do you think? And just as importantly (to me) how do you interpret the drawing?
“If there is a God atheism must seem to him as less an insult as religion.” – Edmond de Goncourt, 1822-1896, French writer
Two of the most destructive forms of exercise there are! What are some other bad ones? How about side-stepping responsibility? Give us a few more, ok? Be creative!
“The only exercise some get is jumping to conclusions and pushing their luck.” – Anonymous
