Just Walk Away and the World’s Shortest Prayer
“Just get up and go get some coffee somewhere.”
That was my wife’s advice earlier this afternoon after I told her about the phone conversation that had taken place, just moments prior to my call to her.
I was put on a conference call that ended-up being very disturbing. I won’t go into details other than it was disturbingly familiar, a reminder of the frightening manipulations and mechanizations that nearly buried me a little over 13 years ago. The difference this time is that wisdom is increasingly on my side.
So up I went, right over to the coffee shop in the Washington Square shopping center across the street. It was there that I came upon a book highlighting the 60 years of work by Paul Strand - perhaps one of the most influential photographers of the 20th century, along with Edward Weston and Ansel Adams. And like Weston and Adams, Strand was a wandering star, rarely at home or at peace in any one place other than within their own artistic visions. Always in search of the “good light” and landscapes that would become the canvas of their expressions and photographic interpretations of life and the world around them.
I can relate. Chances are they too had close relatives who said “you’re always chasing your %$#hole. Why can’t you be happy in one spot, get along and stop all this moving around. Keep your mouth shut. Never get in a pissing contest with a skunk who has more firepower than you. Why are you so selfish.”
I now take those words as a compliment considering what I’ve witnessed here in the south suburbs of Dayton, and considering the quality of life lived and work created by the likes of Strand, Weston and Adams.
By the time I had finished my coffee and browsed the book on Paul Strand, a recent quote I heard on TV started floating once again through my mind. It was few weeks ago when I watched an interview with actor Sir Anthony Hopkins on Inside the Actors Studio - “when I was young a Jesuit priest taught me what is known as the world’s shortest prayer: f*&$ it. ”
And that’s about how I now feel about that phone call.
Hey, I feel better already !
