Share Your World – January 9, 2017

I’m a little late this week, because I have been busy spouting off about other things, but now it is time to share the happier side of my world with Cee and those of you who choose to read.

If you lost a bet and had to dye your hair a color of the rainbow for a week, what color would it be? My first reaction would be to say blue or purple – but then, thinking about it, elderly ladies used to always have blue or purple hair – those old tints to “keep the gray from yellowing” you know, and good heavens! I don’t want to be thought of as old (the truth does not always have to play a part in life, you know). So, no, not just blue or just purple. Yellow would look horrid on me. Pink? Nah, don’t think so. I finally concluded that I would go for hair like the picture on Cee’s post – rainbow hair. A little of each color. Although, admittedly, I have far less hair that the woman in the photo.

If you could choose one word to focus on for 2017, what would it be? I know a lot of people are choosing a word for the year these days, but I have trouble deciding what that would be for me. Maybe hope? But hope is something we need every single year, some more than others. I think it would be Strength. Strength to overcome the negatives, strength to fight against the negatives, strength to be who I am without apology. Yes, strength.

What was one thing you learned last year that you added to your life? What did I learn last year? Probably many things. I would say simplification, but I really think that started at least a year before last. I would like to say patience, but I fear I have not yet really learned that, although I am getting a little better. Maybe it’s setting priorities – finally accepting that time for me to do those things that make me feel good, that make me happy, that make me more fulfilled, is more important than dusting or vacuuming or being Suzy Homemaker. Because life is short and each year grows shorter.

If life was ‘just a bowl of cherries’… which fruit other than a cherry would you be..? Oh! Not a grape, because “grape” makes me think “sour”. I don’t think I’m sour. Orange – it’s a little tart. Apply is a little crispy. Do I want to be tart or crispy? Banana – it’s really rather smooth and innocuous – is that what I would want to be? How about pomegranate – that fruit that has so many little parts, parts that look alike, but might hold surprises? Yeah – I think I’ll go for pomegranate.

Optional Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up? I am grateful for the opportunity to express myself, whether it be by written or spoken word, or by artistic endeavors. I am grateful for the freedom to complain, frequently and loudly, about the weather without being struck by lightning or locked up in a ward of deviants. I am grateful that the gray days are broken up by days with sunshine, that I have friends who keep my driveway plowed, that I have a car that allows me to plow through some of the snow if I feel a need to, I am grateful that I have friends who are willing to share a cup of coffee or tea and their time. I am looking forward to living another week with whatever that week might bring.

And now, a few thoughts that have been stirring my brain and pestering me to spew them out.

I posted an ink painting on Facebook the other day with the comment that the painting seemed to reflect my feelings about the state of our country right now. The painting was titled “Into the Chasm”:

The posting prompted a couple of comments from women that they were quite happy with the direction our country was going, and I responded to the first of them by saying I was happy they were happy, and that I hoped that happiness would continue for them. She came back, quite unexpectedly, asking why I wasn’t happy. So I told her, as briefly as possible, how I felt about our political climate. Which prompted a lengthy reply from her, explaining why she was happy and – essentially – how she hoped I would see the light and feel better. This conversation prompted more comments about my apparent lack of emotional health, and I’m sitting here going “whoa!” I made what I thought was a casual comment describing my painting, and suddenly it blew up in my face. I thought how good it was these people had not seen my last post!

But what all of this has shown me is that we’ve made up our minds. We have opted to hear those things we choose to hear, to believe those things we choose to believe, and changing our minds is not going to happen easily. I am including myself in this. We are a country, perhaps a world, I believe, of selective hearing. Later, I saw a comment on Facebook – not the first in this vein – that a person did not believe most of what they read anyway. I thought, there is that, it certainly is a concern – how very very sad that we cannot believe much of what we read anymore. How very sad that truth has become so elusive. How ever did we get here, anyway? And where are we headed?

So that’s my soapbox for today – I do become dejected, concerned, worried – but it is not consuming me, people. I am taking a break from too much news for awhile, I am not reading many of the posts on Facebook (primarily from a news source that I happen to like – see, I chose my side) regarding things political, because I need a break. I will do what I can to make my voice heard, but I refuse to become overwhelmed by it all. And sometimes I need to speak out, weep in public, paint dreary pictures, because those are outlets. Healthy ones, in my mind.

Wishing everyone enough. Because enough is all that we need.