I motivated myself to drawing another Mediocrity napkin!
A Decapitated Life
This is gross, right? Well, so is spending your life sitting on a couch looking at gross images. So is wasting your life consumed with watching not doing. So is criticizing what other people do while you do nothing. So is killing yourself before your life is over.
A Reattached Life
I am currently reading the book ‘Frankenstein’ by Mary Shelley. We all know the story of the Doctor who makes a man out of various body parts and brings the creature to life. Did you know we do the same with ourselves? We just do it at the cellular level. Our body recreates itself constantly, old cells die off and existing cells divide to create new cells. One estimate, just as an example, says that we replace 10% of our fat cells per year and between 1% and .5 % of our cardiomyocyte heart cells per year depending on our age. That isn’t to say every single cell is replaced, that is not true. Many of our brain cells for example are with us since birth and will be with us when we die.
The Changing Life
Having new cells isn’t as nifty as say having a new face attached (which now can be done) but it is a reminder that what our cells can do, our brain and body can do. We ARE able to change our habits. We ARE able to change our attitudes. We ARE able to change our behaviors. We ARE able to lead a life of excellence instead of mediocrity.
The Mediocrity Chair
What does it take? It takes a decision to do it and the courage, when the moment arrives, to take action. But, But, But…..All the excuses, reasons, fears, roadblocks, shortcomings, past failures, past successes, pressure, relationships, disbelief, self-loathing, lack of hope, lack of trust, lack of ability are what courage is created to overcome.
So wind up that spring of courage, breathe deep and get the _______ out of your mediocrity chair and go. Whatever it is you want your life to be, I mean REALLY TRULY DEEPLY want your life to be… GO BE IT. You might fail but you will be farther and better than if you stayed in that chair of mediocrity.
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Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman, who once had skin grafts done on my arms and back. They took the skin from my butt, which was basically the only place on my body that wasn’t burnt, isn’t that cute?
I wanted to thank all my international visitors (from 34 countries) this week. I thought I would highlight my five visitors from The Netherlands today. I usually get some traffic from Holland each week and I thought I would highlight them today.
Amsterdam – Two different visitors, one of whom went to see my Veruschka posting in my ‘Artists I Love‘ Series and the other who went to look at the Creativity series.
Breda – A returning visitor who went to the first ‘Idealism‘ drawing from last week and continued on to investigate 10 more categories.
Hoevelaken – Who found my ‘Artists I Love – Andy Goldsworthy‘ post via a Google search. This post has been my most popular post of the last year, by the way. Goldsworthy is awesome, go check his work out.
It might be folly, but today is day 4 of The Ideal Series!
The Intolerant Idea l
That is not a hyphenation mistake at the end of the quote. You can’t be idealistic without an idea. When a person is so persuaded that his or her idea is worth hurting others, worth cutting them down, or worth castigating them as less than they are, then the idea, no matter how positive it is in the abstract, becomes dangerous and deadly. If you have any doubts think of the history of ideas and ideals.
The Religious Idea l
Although bathed in the teachings of love over the centuries, religions and their ideas of exclusivity have led to wars, persecutions, terrorism, hatred, condemnation, assassinations, and destruction of whole societies and cities, all because the ideas included having no tolerance for those who believe differently.
The Political Idea l
State Communism and State Socialism, supposedly started with the idea of ‘brotherhood of man’ and equality for all, led instead to the oppression, incarceration and murder of close to 100 million people under Stalin and Mao alone.
The Personal Idea l
Who do you dislike and why? Who do you make fun of? Who do you declare unworthy of consideration and respect? Who do you hate? Maybe someone fat? Maybe a cyclops? How about a prostitute? What about a Muslim? Perhaps a bigamist Mormon? What about a slut? Possibly a thief? What about a rich movie star? Maybe an atheist? How about a Democrat? Or a Republican?
The Power Idea l
Now give yourself unlimited power to do anything you want to those people. What would you do? That is how the damage of the religious and the political examples I mentioned above came about. They didn’t start after the person got in power. The hatred was there first, then the power gave them the capability to do the damage.
The Ideal Idea l
Jesus taught that the sin was not in the murder alone, but that it was the hatred that led to the murder that was also a sin. Now, I am not a big believer in ‘sin’ in the classic definition, but it really doesn’t matter what you call it. It starts in your heart. If you don’t practice tolerance and understanding when you are without power, you will never have it when you do.
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Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman, who believes that in the end, only kindness matters.
Ideally this would be day 3 of The Ideal Series, and thus it is.
The Ideal Meteor
You know what would be ideal? If a really large meteor, the largest in 100 years, screamed through the atmosphere and blew up and we could see it all happen! Yes it would be…from a distance. It would not be ideal if it hit your town, blew out your office glass and cut you up really bad. It all depends on how close you are, doesn’t it.
The Myopic Ideal
If you live in Oklahoma then chances are you might think your ideal world includes no need for gun regulation beyond maybe some safety classes. Perhaps everyone having a gun is your ideal. But would you feel the same way if you lived in that violence ridden inner city? I bet the solution would be harder than just simplistically saying let everyone have a gun and all will be well.
But what if you live in a bad area of Chicago or LA or some other city with a very high rate of gun violence? You are far, far away from rural Oklahoma with it’s uncrowded rural life. Your ideal is different. Perhaps your ideal is no one having guns. But would you feel the same way if you lived in that quiet rural world? I bet the solution would be harder than just simplistically saying take away all the guns and all will be well.
The 20/20 Ideal
What do you do if you want to find solutions and maintain your idealism at the same time? Well, we know you can’t find a solution without understanding the other side, since even if you do pass a law, it will come back to bite you if it doesn’t take into account as many people as possible. So, we have to compromise.
But what about the idealism, isn’t that dead if you have to compromise? No, it is not. Idealism is not about reaching something (see yesterday’s drawing) it’s about being guided by something. Your idealistic guiding principles can include finding solutions that help everyone, not just you and your tribe. But to do that you have to be willing to get inside that other world, if not in person, at least via reading and understanding, with an open heart and a belief in the good faith of the other side.
You know what that would be? It would be ideal.
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Drawing by Marty Coleman, who thinks it would be ideal if some well connected friend of mine contacted a marketing department in a paper company that makes napkins or an art company that makes markers and told them it would be ideal for them to sponsor me.
If you are always looking down the illusion becomes reality, that everyone else is below you. They become inferior and needy. They are a burden to you. They aren’t worthy of respect or true care and attention like you are. They are less than you and you are on top. You are not only at the highest point, you ARE the highest point.
Eyes Up Illusion
If you are always looking up the illusion becomes reality, that everyone else is above you. You become inferior and needy. You are a burden to them. You aren’t worthy of respect and care and attention. You are less than them and you are on the bottom. You are not only at the lowest point, you ARE the lowest point.
Eyes Up and Down Reality
If you are looking up and down there is no illusion, there is only reality; some above, some below, some equal. You are not inferior or superior. You are not a burden nor are they. All are worthy of respect and care and attention, no matter where they are. You are not less and you are not more, you are not on the bottom nor the top. You are simply among friends.
Since Pope Ben is going to retire this month I thought I would round up some interesting quotes from Popes recent and past and see how they illuminate things, both intentionally and un.
The Halting Hand
Who’s hand is that keeping them from seeing each other? Does the abused one hide or does the friend ignore? Do they have an almost invisible fence of hurt that keep them from reaching out? I have been accused in the past of probing too deep with people, asking too many personal questions, wondering about thing more intimate than I should wonder about out load. I will take that criticism and live with it because I would rather be accused of asking too many questions than not enough. I would rather be told I am being too pushy than to find out a friend of mine was abused or committed suicide and I hadn’t ask a question I really thought I should ask.
The Papal Irony
This quote is by Pope John Paul II, the Pope before the current and soon to resign Pope Benedict. I think it is a true statement. I think it is also a very ironic one considering the trouble the Catholic Church has had for decades in excusing the most unchristian and immoral behavior one can imagine. I am not suggesting Pope John Paul II knew anything about it but it is now obvious that child molestation and sexual assault has been going on a long, long time within the Catholic Church. It’s also obvious that many Priests and Bishops put their hands up and blinded themselves to the assaults. They cared about the political fallout and the monetary implications if the secrets got out. I am sure they were disturbed at some level about the actual assault as well. But obviously that was down the list in importance, that is why the best solution for them was to send the offender off to another parish or area of service so the blood would be washed from their hands instead of actually turning the criminal offender into the police.
That is ironic.
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Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman, who is not Catholic
Quote by Karol Wojtyla, 1920-2005, Roman Catholic Pope (John Paul II) 1978-2005
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Trivia Question of the Day
What is the sedia stercoraria and what was it used to prove among Popes?
I have been all three of these kisses to women throughout my life. I liked being the exclamation point the best, and disliked being the question mark the most. Being a comma didn’t matter much, unless I thought I was an exclamation point, then it was a bummer. In general that is when you are hurt, when you think you are one type of punctuation, but the woman decides you are another.
I was a comma in 2002 when a woman I started to date had me in between some other guys she was dating. I could tell she was not going to stop her sentence with me.
I was a question mark many times. The thing about being a question mark is you don’t usually stay that way. The question is answered pretty quickly and you are either going to become an exclamation point, a period or a comma in short order.
And my ego would like to say I have been an exclamation point more than a few times, but I can at least say I have held that punctuation title twice, to the two women I married. Of course I turned into a very long comma to my first wife, but I was exclamation point for a while at least.
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Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman, who has given all 3 types in his life.
Quote by Mistinguett, 1875-1956, French singer and actress.
Take a look and listen to this, her only sound movie, from 1936.
I might be a man but I remember very well my first kiss.
I had gone to my very first dance. I was 12 years old and was going to be entering 7th grade. I went to a thing called ‘Sports Night’ at the Jr. High I was going to attend in Los Angeles. I suppose somebody somewhere was in a gym playing sports, but I was in the room with the band, the girls and the dancing. And then I saw the girl. My first over the top, heart beating fast, crazy puppy love girl. Her name was Lisa Millward and I was smitten the moment I saw her. I don’t remember how we met but I found out she was 1/2 grade ahead of me so she knew the ropes of the dances having gone before. She was my first ‘older woman’ as well as my first love.
We danced the night away and I fell in love with her in the course of those few short hours. It wouldn’t be the last time I fell in love with someone on the dance floor, but it was my first. Far too quickly it was time to go. We both went outside to wait for our parents to come pick us up. We talked for just a bit, then the moment came. She leaned in, I figured out what she was doing so I leaned in and we kissed. It was pretty unexpected on my part so I didn’t have enough time to really get nervous about it. It was just a smidgen longer than a peck but it was on the lips and that made it count. My heart was beating crazy fast, I remember that much.
Here is the kicker. My father and sister had just driven up in the car to pick me up and witnessed the whole thing. Of course, my sister made merciless fun of me, saying I was leaning in at some ridiculously awkward angle and looked completely dorky. I think my dad enjoyed the moment of his son taking that leap.
My Second Kiss
Back in those days you used the phone book to look everyone up. The listings usually just had the mom and dad’s names so I probably called every Millward in the book until I found her. We made arrangements to go bowling with a group of friends. It was a lot of fun but I was distracted the whole time because I wanted to have a real kiss with her, not in public view this time. I kept trying to think about how I could make that happen.
After bowling the two of us took a walk down to this 3 story office building at the end of the strip mall. There was an elevator that was all by itself, outside the building, connected by outdoor walkways to each floor. I decided it would be the perfect place to have a real kiss. We got in the elevator and went up. Then we went down. Then up again. Then down again. The whole time I was a nervous wreck, completely frozen in my inability to make the move. Finally, after probably about 5 trips up and down I did what any crazy in love 12 year old would do, I pulled the stop button on the elevator between floors and kissed her. It was glorious and wonderful and the highlight of my life up until that moment (and for quite a while after that).
The Aftermath
The first part of the summer was the best ever. I went to the beach or went swimming or did something else with her almost every day. We kissed a lot. But alas the fates were cruel. My father took a job 3,000 miles away in New York and before the summer was out we were gone to live in Connecticut. I pined away for her all the rest of the summer and well into the next school year. We sent love letters and I even got a Valentines letter with a big heart on the front that she had drawn with lipstick.
The letters started to dwindle off over the course of the spring, from my side as well as hers, but I still was madly in love with her. We drove across the country to visit California that next summer and I was crazy with anticipation about seeing her again. It didn’t turn out all that great. I found out my friends back in Calif had sent the Valentine’s letter as a joke to me (how I missed that it wasn’t from her I have no idea) and she really just wasn’t all that interested in me anymore. I was hurt but not terribly so. I had already started to realize this wasn’t going to be a lasting thing while back in Connecticut, having found other girls who peaked my interest in kissing.
What that relationship really taught me was how easy it was for me to fall in love with the idea of being in love! I have moderated that some over the years, but I don’t really ever want to leave it completely behind. After all, being in love is a feeling worth being in love with.
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Drawing and revealing biographical sketch by Marty Coleman, who has yet to find Lisa on Facebook.
Quote by Remy de Gourmont, 1858-1915, French Symbolist poet
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Trivia Question of the Day
If you were going to give a ‘nachkussen’, what sort kiss would you be giving?
