ARE WE AWAKE?

March 19, 2020

I break off three little pyramids of Toblerone and place the foil on a growing blossom of patches.  Silver patches that I imagine will get stuck to something somewhere and I'll call it 'art.'  Of course, this current thing must .. eventually.. be all about Art.  To be Awake and  distracted and focused all at the same time is like that guy on TV with the line of spinning plates on long poles. He rushes back and forth and back and forth to keep them all spinning. 

Earlier today I took time to manually type a letter to a hero of mine.  A nice distraction.. "spinning" on a beautiful invitation that I received in snail mail.. Snail Mail!! on Monday.  His art work is being honored at the Pompidou Centre in Paris. The invitation was in French! Over the years, he and his wife/partner have been responsive to my fan letters and inquiries.  A personal letter that I got from them several years ago included a small artwork and a hand written card. When a hero takes time to be a responsive human being, it makes the whole world better somehow.  

How can one person's kindness to another make the world better?  It's infectious.  A word we'd rather not deal with today, but the infection of kindness and humility and love are vital and when we all figure this out and in some human way, reaching out to other folks with a word or a gesture, then.. kindness may be passed along. 

I first heard about 'Instant Love' many years ago up in the Bay Area. It was one way to generate some good feelings.  Herb Caen was a human interest columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle. He reported on "Baghdad by the Bay" for fifty years.  The deal was that when you drove from Oakland to The City and stopped at the toll booth on the Bay Bridge, you'd pay not only your quarter (that dates this, eh?) but you'd pay another quarter for the person behind you. If they were hip to this idea, they'd pay for the person behind them!.. such a deal.   Before you knew it, there would be folks who'd never met before waving and smiling as they headed into the wonderfulness of San Francisco. 

In my attempt to shift focus from the anger and angst that many folks are feeling, it feels good to repeat that story and to hope that our fears and upset may take on some perspective.  

This is in no way to treat the current issue in a cavalier way..but to make us all realize that this is a storm that will blow through.  

If we piss and moan about it at length, that, to me, may prolong it. Of course, we won't deny that things are tough.  But, by doing our own personal actuarial, checking to see how friends are doing, being respectful of those who find ranting a way to deal with things.. and most of all... behaving like human beings.. the ordeal.. this trial of our society.. will, hopefully,  take on perspective.  

Perspective is difficult when we feel threatened, of course.  That's where being 'awake' and being focused on the good stuff takes effect.  If being upset serves us, then, I guess we should be upset. On the other hand, if planning a simple future of simply being still, just for now...  to survive, well that seems like a plan. Do both? Well..  doing the latter seems like a good idea to me.

Advice? On line? Platitudes? I guess this may all be platitudistic.. is that a word?  I refuse to be cowed by these Times.  Maybe that's denial? But.. seeing the image of mr. 45 on Facebook is not necessary. I just prefer to not have that image in my home.   Listening to what seem to be half truths and lies from the White House? (mostly, I just turn it off....) is a challenge.   

Or? Do we take today and tell a friend that they are important, they matter and that we appreciate them without even mentioning the.. the thing.. if we can.. then, that's a little like Herb Caen's "Instant Love" isn't it?  

So? This missive is my way of saying "I love you" and whomever needs it, is welcome, whether we've ever met or not.. Most of the folks reading this are good people whom I've probably touched elbows with, or lain with, or loved over the years... We are friends.  Hi.. Please pass it on. 

Ill send a dollar to the first person who can tell me where this photo was taken.

Michael Sheehan

Glendale, CA 

March 19, 2020