Wednesday November 6, 2024

I woke to affirm that our earth has again turned to give us a rising sun. I am alive. I choose kindness. I have work to do. I choose kindness and hope while respecting the collective choices of others. However, this does not mean I agree or that I do not have serious concerns about these choices. 

I have no expectation that this living thing will be easy. 

I am alive. I choose kindness. I have work to do. 

I choose this grand, out of my control, adventure.

In doing so, I will start by borrowing a few lines from a poem by John Roedel that he shared on his Facebook profile, November 4, 2024. (Roedel, 2024)

“You are living on a spinning wet rock of a planet that resides next to a constantly exploding fireball in the middle of an ever-expanding universe that is filled with mysteries beyond your wildest imagination.”

“And on this planet that you are hurtling through the great expanse in – you are coexisting with billions of other people who have free-will and their own experiences that shape their perspectives and beliefs.”

“And while all this is going on your soul is residing in a physical body that is such a miracle of delicate engineering that at any given moment could produce its last heartbeat.”

The poem, written as a conversation between god and a human, goes on to say that we have two things we can control. The first is kindness towards others and the second is kindness towards ourselves. 

I have no expectation that this living thing will be easy. 

I am alive. I choose kindness. I choose hope. I have work to do.

Artist notes: The light is just starting to hang itself on the tips of the tall fir branches outside our windows when I rise. I quickly grind the dark whole beans while the water is boiling and brew coffee to take with me to the beach at Reef Bay. Slipping unnoticed out the door, I am there by 5:30 am, perched and waiting to receive a renewable gift of resilience, hope and possibility in that spectacular phenomena, millions of years older than humanity – sunrise, mid May 2023. 

And before you consider this a lighthearted naivety, this painting was inspired by a few lines from Mary Oliver’s Goldfinches in her poem “Invitation” (p.107 Oliver, 2020)

believe us, they say,
it is a serious thing

just to be alive on this fresh morning in the broken world.

We will get through this time, as countries and as global citizens.

References:

Oliver, M. (2020) DEVOTIONS : the selected poems of Mary Oliver. Penguin Press.

Roedel, J. (2024) John Roedel, Facebook.com. Available at: https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10169245051305276&id=862760275 (Accessed: 6 November 2024).

Welch, T. (2024) Sun is Up [walnut oil on linen board]. Available at: https://www.artworkarchive.com/profile/terrill-welch/artwork/sun-is-up (Accessed: 6 November 2024).