In the days since my last post, three things have occurred to me:
1. It's impossible to maintain a daily ritualistic art practice when life tosses several
challenges that need immediate solutions into the mix all at once.
2. It's important to attempt to regain a foothold on the ritual as soon as possible.
3. It's equally important to remain flexible and accept limitations.
With that said, I'm going to flex off my original plan to create a daily art piece for hillary: i see you, and instead, begin a countdown. To election day.
And today marks 89 days until the 2016 election.
If you saw any news yesterday, you probably saw the reports that Hillary Clinton's opponent (he who must not be named) suggested the use of violence to stop her should she be elected to office. Hideous, awful, scary. Whether you like and support her or not, there's no room for this. It does, unfortunately, reaffirm the reason I picked Hillary as the focus for my daily art ritual. It's time she be shown as a person, who was a child, a teen, a young woman (a kid) with aspirations for herself and the world.
Inside all of us is a kid like that, who had a vision for the future. Who wanted to put it all on the line and see if the risk paid off. Sometimes it did, sometimes it didn't. Sometimes fear or practicality stopped us from even taking the first step. Other times we messed the whole thing up by saying the wrong thing, including the wrong people, or making the wrong choice. Many times we met people who didn't agree with our ideas and offered only critique and road blocks. We may have made them our enemies, despising and fighting them.
In the end, we grow up, look back, and shake our heads, wishing for a do-over or laughing off the missteps. And we try to do better. Every day. In every way we can. And if we've gained emotional intelligence, we understand that enemies make our pursuits difficult. A struggle. Ugly. So, we learn to argue, disagree, and compromise with wit and grace. We avoid hateful, aggressive behavior and we never (never) suggest violence as a solution. Because we recognize, deeply, that inside every opponent is a youthful spirit that should never be extinguished.
My wish? As the days click off and we near election day, I hope more voters see candidates as people. Who were once children, teens, young adults. Kids. With big hopes for the world. If you want to try it, find a photo of any candidate as a kid. See if it doesn't soften the heart, even just a smidge. And from that place, it becomes a lot easier to speak out against violence toward anyone.