I stopped at Candy Land to get some treats to top it off.
I set the camera on self-timer and placed it on a newspaper box. Of course this never works the first time, and as I took multiple photos, two different people came up and offered to snap my photo for me. I turned them down because I was fulfilling the rule for 365 self-portraits: other people can't take the photo. But each person seemed a little disappointed, and I wish I had accepted their sweet offers of help.[If I ever need a reminder that humans fundamentally want to help each other (if we're not afraid, or competing for resources, or...) I'm going to go downtown and do this again.]
Downtown anyway, I popped over to the Government Plaza light-rail stop to look more closely at Keith Christensen's installation there. (I mentioned a few posts back that I'd run into Keith for the first time in a dozen years.) He'd asked people how they saw democracy and used their answers as text. My almost-favorite is this one, below: "messy process".
But my top-favorite answer was "hopeful and something".I was feeling more "and something" yesterday because despite how nice several strangers were to me--(for instance, a construction worker, without me asking, helped me navigate the maze of fences at gov't plaza)--I was in an foul mood about human stupidity because it was Armistice Day (11/11) and here my country is, ninety-one years later, still at war.
But it was a gorgeous day, so I took off my shoes and socks to photograph my toes on the platform, and the yellow paint was warm. Lovely and cheering.
I stopped at the downtown library on the way home to get some books for my geography work. I also checked out the first season DVD of The Royle Family, a Britcom I'd never seen.
I watched it last night and it was perfect---about a foul family that is, at heart, fundamentally decent. Much like all of us messy humans, it's "hopeful and something."
Te series sounds interesting - I always enjoyed Roseanne. And the people wanting to take you picture...that has possibilities I think, that is, involving people in projects (for both of us). Maybe you could solicit volunteer herrings for a street crossing?
ReplyDeleteI, too, thought about it being Armistice Day. Ironic, yes. Not that you're asking for my theology nugget today, but I see us (humans) as awesomely, achingly good, so long as there's no great cost to my selfish self. The apostle Paul wrote a bit about this phenomenon - the wanting to do good, but in that moment finding oneself not doing it. And so wars and such continue. But truly the good-wanting that's there is cause for the "hopeful and something."
ReplyDeleteThe yellow beneath your toes is quite cheery!
ART: That could be a good project!
ReplyDeleteDEANNA: I *always* want to hear your theological reflections! And I agree with this one too--we humans are so wonderful and generous, until we're not, and then we're the opposite.
Paul bemoaning that he doesn't understand why he doesn't do what he loves is one of my favorite quotes ever--who can't relate?
I must add it to my quotes sidebar.