Fellow Travelers Represent you, me and the Average Joe Blow

"Auburn Nights" 16 x 20 Oil on Canvas, framed

I saw a lot of colorful people on our vacation; first in the airplane, and then at the places we visited. What stories they could tell. And yet, we are all so alike. As we worried about our plans to deplane and whether to stay on board or go out for an hour to walk, eat and relax.

The woman a few seats down expressed the same concerns. 

The catch, we all agreed was the required removing of our luggage from the plane and then having to again re-board. We all made a group decision to escape for awhile in exchange for waiting in line a brief time before reclaiming our original seats.

Across the aisle, a man in his sixties captured my attention as he read an actual book rather than a Kindle. How did he read such small print? His gray hair was pulled back in a ponytail hanging down his back. His face was covered in a scruffy short beard and mustache; a new retiree perhaps heading for Florida?

"Window on Pine Island" 16 x 20 Oil on WrappedCcanvas

A red-headed young woman on my right hovered over a hand-held device playing a game. She didn’t say a word the whole flight. Finally she buried herself in a shroud of covers and went to sleep for the duration. When she awoke, I was stunned to see that her lips and jaw protruded far beyond how the average young girl might look. Later, my husband described her as looking “old for her age.” When it was time for her to leave, my heart went with her.

On the airplane, people of all colors, shapes and sizes laughed, talked, slept or read; each adapting peaceably to their surroundings. In this setting, it was hard to imagine that any would seek war or choose to maim, kill, or jeopardize the safety and well-being of others. And yet we read about this happening almost every week. We wonder about the mind-set of those who are capable of such atrocities.

"Blending In" Acrylic on Canvas
(We saw a few of these in Redwing, MN)

We are always on guard. When the airplane finally puts up its wing-flaps and the craft slows, we breathe easy that we’ve almost made it. Prayers of gratitude are mumbled. The passengers collectively brace themselves as the plane hits the runway. They apply imaginary brakes together and sigh when the plane makes its way to the gate.

For the length of this flight, the people have smiled politely at one another, gone out of their way to be courteous and respectful, even assisted with luggage when necessary. Where are the violent protesters and the mobs that create chaos and harm to law enforcers and business owners? Where are the bullies who wreak havoc on others? Who ignites the spark that sets off a chain reaction of destruction? What is their agenda?

My friends it is lawbreakers, gangsters, international syndicates, terrorists; and unfortunately, our local, state and national officials. For their own nefarious purposes, they set ablaze communities, instill fear and anger, destroy law and order to gain power over people, and the control of city and national power structures. 

When the party is over, they scatter like rats. Disguised as innocents, they offer money and support as they feign ignorance over cause and effect. And they get away with it! Not only do they play deaf and dumb, but they blame someone or something else for the carnage.

There are stories to be told, all right. But the tales are not about average people who go about living their lives in peace; who work and play, travel and contribute to society and in their neighborhoods. The bigger story is about corruption in government, about power-hungry ideologues who seek world dominance, and about why the people who elect them are willing to ignore their dishonesty and the stench that goes on right under their noses.

"Americana" 16 x 20 acrylic on canvas, in barn wood frame

In the Looking Glass; Vanity at Its Worst

"hand feeding cat fish" on Bear Lake

Society places far too much value on appearances. The attractive, the gorgeous, the svelte or muscular often become the rich and famous. Add to that beauty, charm, wit, and a smooth-talking tongue, and you have an unbeatable combination. If used for good, all is well; if not, it’s a recipe for deception and destruction. This has been true since the beginning of time.

Vanity, and the downfall thereof, has been the topic of scripture, great literature, Legends and Fairy Tales. Remember when the wicked Queen in “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" looks in the mirror and asks: “Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?” 

We know she’s an ugly old hag; but the mirror, knowing that it will be broken if it speaks the truth, tells the ruthless queen that she’s “the fairest one of all” in spite of the evidence against it.

Like the queen’s looking glass, there are individuals who fawn over famous people; even becoming “yes” men and women in order to “share the wealth” and stay in good favor. The sin of vanity is not only a preoccupation with one’s physical appearance, but includes pride, greed, dishonesty, and misuse of power.

Some people lean their ladder of vanity on the tree of fame and fortune, only to find that they’ve chosen the wrong tree. In their struggle to climb the ladder of success, they willingly crush others under their feet as they scramble to the top. Their ego and thirst for money and power leaves the person they once were behind and they forget their core values. It becomes “all about me.”

"Another view of Bear Lake from the Wasatch Mountains"

Like "Alice’s adventures in Wonderland," things are not always as they seem. I read a wonderful book titled: “Bonhoeffer” a history and biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer a Christian Pastor in Germany during the rise and fall of Hitler’s Third Reich.

The book chronicles the power struggle between the Christian Church in Germany and the Furor’s ravenous appetite for a perfect society--an Aryan race. Eventually, there is a split in the Christian Church between those who want to support Hitler at all costs, and those who don’t.

"Park City Utah" (on vacation)

People became obsessed with the progressive vision of Hitler’s Germany. They were concerned with seeking approval and gaining professional recognition and advancement. 

If that meant tweaking the Bible here, and removing a few passages of scripture there, so be it. 

If that meant forcing compliance of the government’s new and improved German Christian Church; it was for the good of Germany. Christ’s gospel was far too restrictive, anyway, and much too lenient in its treatment of miscreants, half-breeds and inferior people who would simply limit Germany’s rise to greatness.

The complexities of Hitler’s march into evil and infamy boils down to this: The people were misled by a tyrant with a silver tongue who was expert at disguising his evil intents through lies and manipulation (a "wolf in sheep's clothing"). By the time they discovered the truth, the laws had turned against them and there was nowhere to turn.

"Street scene in Park City, Utah"

One such appeaser was Martin Niemoller. A man Hitler appointed to run the government’s newly created “German Christian Church.”

Niemoller realized too late what he had done—what they had all done! When he began to oppose Hitler, he was placed in a concentration camp for eight years. Later, he shot himself.

During his imprisonment he penned this:

“First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out –because I was not a Socialist. Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Trade Unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew. And then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.”

Who will speak for you? If Beauty and worth are in the eye of the beholder, how will you be perceived by others? In the same token, How will your artwork be viewed by others? Integrity is living what you believe and acting in accordance with your values. First you must define who you are and what you stand for.

"Winston" my sister's hot Westie!  He's sooooo smart!