“Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar”, said Freud, or Marx (Groucho that is). If you say this quote you are also saying sometimes it’s not a cigar, it’s a symbol representing a penis. That is what complex looking is all about, seeing what is there and seeing what might be behind what is there; maybe an intent, a joke, or a hidden agenda.
For example, there is a hand gesture that I recently learned has not one, but two meanings. It’s your index finger touching your thumb to make a circle. It means everything is A-OK and until this year that is all I ever knew it to mean. But I’ve been told it also means white supremacy. I am not sure of the history behind it becoming a symbol of that but it is now something that can be interpreted to mean that, especially if it’s displayed upside down.
Sometimes it isn’t visual, it’s verbal. A politician says ‘Nationalism’ and it doesn’t JUST mean having pride in one’s country. It also means they want to preserve the existing power structure that they feel is threatened by outsiders. Which outsiders? Well, according to our current President, those outsiders are not Norwegians. They are Mexicans, South Americans, people from ‘shithole’ countries in Africa and Muslims from countries in the Middle East. They are the outsiders that are threatening our nation, not the good white people of Europe.
It behooves us to always LOOK clearly at what is going on underneath the obvious.
I drew it on the day we had to put one of our pets down. Since then I’ve seen innumerable posts on social media from friends and family who have had to do the same. They are among the saddest but most uplifting stories I read regularly on social media.
There is sometimes a eulogy, but it isn’t ever a recitation of the animals upbringing, education, career, status or volunteer efforts in retirement. Instead it’s about how the animal made the person feel. How much love they felt from the animal, how much sustenance they were given by its mere presence in their lives. In other words it was about their character and their love, not their achievements.
If only we humans could be more animal what a better jungle we would inhabit.
The quote is from a four year old trying to comfort a family after they had to put their pet down.
On the run I don’t think about how long I will live or how running is affecting the length of my life. I think about the incredibly rich challenges and joys of being on the run.
On the run is where I discover the unexpected me. It’s where I unexpectedly rise to a challenge and where I unexpectedly have an epic failure. It’s where the time-worn story of limitations I tell myself again and again on the couch is proven to be a lie.
On the run is where I learn that nature’s elements are not enemies, they argumentative but supportive companions. They don’t argue to keep me from succeeding, they argue to provide the challenges that create the success.
On the run is where I search for who I really want to be and find out who I really am. Sometimes there is a wide crevasse between the two and it is disappointing and deflating. But on the run is also where I have those magical moments where there is no distance between who I want to be and who I am.
On the run I experience all those things; challenges, joys, arguments, the expected and unexpected, the frustrating gaps and the sublime moments.
On the run I add life to my days, not just days to my life.
I Periscoped with a TV Newsperson the other day (see the end of the post for an explanation of Periscope).
She was in a cab after a long day of work and play. Her name is Sara Haines and she is a Lifestyle and Pop News Anchor for Good Morning America on ABC. It’s a good fit for her because she is chirpy, funny and a energized ball of laughs and smiles. She had been Periscoping during commercials and then later at a party. But now she was done for the day and on her way home.
Understanding Kim
I and others were watching her now in a more relaxed, contemplative mood, reflecting on things based on questions we were asking. Someone asked her if she liked the Kardashians. The person asking may have been expecting a typical, ‘I hate them, they are terrible’ type of response, I don’t know. But that is not what they got. Sara said she is intrigued and fascinated by them, especially Kim Kardashian. She said she tries to imagine what she would do if she was raised like her, looked like her, lived her life, had her money. What choices would she make and how different would they be from the choices Kim does makes? In other words, she doesn’t judge or shame Kim, she empathizes with her. And that means she can simply enjoy her for who she is and try to understand her.
Empathy Covers Shame
So far the 21st century is the century of public shaming and judgment. But what Sara shows in her attitude is that happiness and joy comes from empathy and understanding of others, not judgment and shaming. It’s a lesson we all need to learn again and again, that when we are tempted to judge, especially in the public arena when we truly don’t know the person, it’s best to step back and try to empathize, to understand what it is they are feeling and reacting to in life. That is when we will grow and learn.
Hope for Humanity
I like Sara from what I seen of her on TV, but she went to the top of my ‘I have hope for humanity’ list when I was able to hear her talk about her way of seeing the world and the people in it. She’s also now at the top of my ‘What TV person would you most want to have lunch with’ list. I think the conversation would be fantastic.
Spirals have taken over much of my drawing in recent months. Part 1 from a few weeks ago showed the abstract patterns I have created. Now here are the characters and portraits that have come from my spiral infatuation.
