Dreamer or a realist? Why not both..................

I opened the door.

It was Taipo, a gallery owner that I had met a few

weeks earlier.

-Taipo. Please come in, I'm sorry for being a mess, I'm in

the middle of painting.

-I can see that, he said as he walked in to

the living room, aka my ''studio''. 

In the middle of my living room was where I did all

my painting so to get from the front door to

my studio was a question of a few steps.

Taipo took a few steps and then stopped in front

of my easel.

On the easel was a large canvas that I was working

on. (The above image)

-What are you working on? Taipo asked.

-Oh, I don't know really, I'm just experimenting.

-Why is there an American flag in the background? he asked.

-Well, as an immigrant myself I was thinking about

what it may have felt like for people who ran away

from a war torn Europe to America in order to hopefully

make true the ''American Dream''.

-I see, he said and then continued, can you paint

another 12 of them?

-Twelve? I asked incredulously.

-Yes, 12 paintings is what you'll need for the big space in 

the gallery and to be able to have a solo exhibition.

A solo exhibition? Yes please. My first one.

-Yes, I would like that very much. Thank you, Taipo.

-Can you make them all along the same theme?

-You mean including the American flag some way

or another in every painting?

-Yes, that would be great, he answered.

-Sure, I answered confidently although I had no clue

how I was going to do that.

-Great, I'll call you and let you know dates, he said 

and then left.

After much pondering I finally came up with a concept

on how I was going to it. Then I had to come up

with a title for the exhibition. 

 I decided to name the exhibition ''American Dreamers''.

Why ''American Dreamers''? you may ask.

There was a time ''long ago'' when America for many

 people represented a country where anyone regardless of 

where they were born or what ''class'' they were born into, 

would still be able  to attain their own version

 of success. (''The American Dream'')

As an immigrant myself I get that it isn't easy to

leave your homeland, friends and relatives behind.

But here's the thing, the exhibition was

 not about America per se, it was

about having a dream of a better life and risking

everything in the hope of achieving it.

As more than 15 years has passed since I held

my exhibition and America seems to be going 

through one crisis after the other, perhaps the

 American Dream is a concept/dream no one 

no longer believes in?

Maybe the ''American Dream'' no longer

flutter in peoples hearts and minds,

but being a dreamer myself, I hope that people

still have dreams of being able to make some 

of their dreams/visions/goals come true.

''The world needs dreamers and the world needs doers.

But above all, the world need dreamers who do.''

(Sarah Ben Breathnach)

 I exhibited my ''American Dreamers'' in a

number of different venues and almost

every time I did I was asked: ''Why are you so

pro America? What about Vietnam, Iraq,

and all the other bad stuff they have done?''

My answer: The paintings are not about America,

the paintings are about people who dreamed of a better life

and who were willing to risk everything in the pursuit

of it.

about the images: 1. ''Father and son arriving Ellis Island''

2. JFK  3. Jimmy's first 4'th of July   4. Immigrants arriving

5. First Nation woman liberating the ''Star Spangled Banner''

All acrylic on large canvas

If someone seems to be falling apart....help them

Have you ever felt as if you're somehow ''pixelating''?

(With pixelating I mean slowly breaking apart into tiny

little pieces.)

I opened the book and read the first sentence.

''Life is suffering'' it said.

I read it again. Life is suffering. Wow. I was impressed.

For once someone dared to spit it out without sugar

coating it. 

Next sentence was just as punchy: ''life isn't fair.''

With those six words the author in my view managed 

to disassemble two of mankind's biggest illusions.

We may not want to admit to ourselves that deep down

we believe that life should be fair and we should not

have to suffer, but we do.

The illusions that life should be fair and that we

shouldn't have to suffer I believe has the potential

to make it much harder for us to cope with unfairness 

and suffering when such afflicts us.

I mean, a lot of time our first response to suffering and

 unfairness goes something like this: 

''Why is this happening to me? or I don't deserve this!''.

Though there is ample evidence of suffering and

unfairness happening to others everywhere and

every second of every day, we are still somehow able

to block it out so that we don't see it, hear it,

or feel it.

Worse still, when it happens to others we often

tend to become ''judgy'' about it.

''Well, he/she/they should have known better, why didn't he/she

/they do something, try something, what did he/she/they expect 

when he/she/they ........ etc. etc. etc.''

No matter how much we may want to believe that ''bad''

things only happens to ''bad'' people, as far as I

can ascertain, both illusions.

As is this: ''good'' things only happens to people who

deserve it.

However, bad things do happen to good people and good things

do happen to bad(don't deserve it) people.

This leads me to conclude that the same laws 

of nature that underlie all causes and effects, do so without

any prejudice or inherent moral implications.

What I am pondering at the moment is why we are

still so inept at being compassionate and empathetic

toward people in pain.

When we see people suffering why do we so often

tend to offer suggestions of how to ''fix'' it before

we offer a shoulder to cry on?

Why do we seem to find it easier to offer platitudes

then heartfelt words of compassion?

Why do we seem to prefer to avoid contact with people

in pain/suffering rather than to listen to them explain what they

are going through?

Yet, .... should we find ourselves in a similar predicament,

.........it's often their discourse we seek.

I believe we can do better.

I believe we need to do better.

We can choose to put down our gavels and

stop viewing our fellow human beings

with judgement and prejudice.

We can choose kindness and compassion

instead of debating life's fairness.

We can choose to listen instead of speaking,

we can choose to be present rather than absent.

''Life is suffering, life isn't fair.

But lucky for us, life can be shared.

If you know someone, 

someone not doing so great,

call them up don't hesitate,

 wait too long and they may pixelate.''

(Citizen Z)

about the image: acrylic on large cardboard

Cropped and then edited in Elements

From little words big words grow..........

While scanning in my items at the check-out the 

long-haired, friendly young man suddenly asked me:

-So, have you done anything interesting today?

Caught off guard and lost in my own world I said something

''intelligent'' such as: -Sorry, can you repeat the question?

-Well, I try to find something interesting to do every

day. It makes life much richer I find. Don't you? he

continued.

-Interesting? Well, I just posted a new bit on my blog

if you consider that as interesting, I answered.

-Well, what's it about? he asked.

-Hmm, well, I guess one could call it ''snack-sized''

philosophical/psychological ponderings on common

human quandaries, I answered.

-Can you give me the address for it? I would like

to have a look.

So I did. 

On the way home from the supermarket I kept

thinking about what I find ''interesting'' in life.

Answer: almost everything.

But for the last 20 years I have been fascinated by

words and how we use them.

Lately, I have been pondering how words at times can 

be likened to seeds and how us humans can be likened

to pots.

Perhaps how we will be affected by words depend on whether

our pots contain ''fertile'' soil, ''sand'' or ''little rocks''?

Words, loosely defined: a combination of letters used

orally and or in writing.

Although we may experience the words we choose to use

as specific, as far as I can ascertain, they seldom are

because in my view words are predominately interpreted 

and understood according to each of our experiences

and interpretations of the words.

 When we converse/talk, we swing between 

being messengers(seeds) and receivers of words(pots).

Whether we are messaging or receiving, the words

used will be interpreted in a way that then will inform how

we will respond.

Back to the seeds and the pots.

For the purpose of this post, when I use the term

 seeds I am referring to seeds ''planted'' with the intention

of a ''good/healthy/fruit bearing'' outcome.

Seed: -Are you okay?

Pot with fertile soil: -Thanks for asking, and yes, I'm

good. You?

Pot with sand: -Sure. 

Pot with rocks: -Why? Shouldn't I be?

Seed: -Do you need some help with that?

Pot with fertile soil: -So glad you asked. Yes, please.

Pot with sand: -Sure.

Pot with rocks: -Do I look like I need some help?

No need, I'm fine.

Seed: -You don't look good. Do you wanna talk about it?

Pot with fertile soil: -I am feeling a bit down. Yes, I

would like to talk about it if you've got the time.

Pot with sand: -Sure.

Pot with rocks: -I'm good. There's nothing to talk about.

etc. etc. etc.

''Between a stimulus and a response there is a space.

In that space is our power to choose our response.

In our response lies our growth and our freedom.''

(Victor Frankl)

''Watch your thoughts, they become your words,

Watch your words, they become your actions,

Watch your actions, they become your habits,

   Watch your habits, they become your character,

  Watch your character, it becomes your destiny.''

(Anonymous)

Us humans are experts at misunderstanding each other,

of responding without thinking first, of using words

that we know will hurt, of sowing seeds of doubt

rather than seeds of hope, of feigning blindness when

faced with others suffering, of becoming deaf when

voices of discontent arise, of becoming mute when

we should speak up.

''We must be diligent,

we must be resilient,

we must be sufficient,

and never indifferent,

if we're still to believe

we've invented a humane society.''

(Citizen Z)

about the image: photo taken with my old crappy Canon.