Animated Art: Peace

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ONLY USE WITH PERMISSION.)

Work of (He)art

"You have feelings for a reason,
and they are like signposts.
They aren't meant to be destinations."
(from a Letter of Love)

(ALL WORKS HERE ARE COPYRIGHTED.
ONLY USE WITH PERMISSION.
If you like my image, this one
and others, is available in
card and other forms at
cafepress.com/joylovepeace)

We Are the World: Thank You Michael Jackson

(ALL WORKS HERE ARE COPYRIGHTED.
ONLY USE WITH PERMISSION.
If you like my image, this one
and others, is available in
card and other forms at
cafepress.com/joylovepeace)

I am sitting here, watching the
tribute to Michael Jackson.

One thing I heard was that Michael
told Kobe Bryant something to the
effect that he should never be
afraid to be unique/himself.

This coming from a man who was
often mocked and ridiculed, and
made fun of. It occurs to me that
Michael was a very courageous man -
he lived his truth.

Now I know that there are things
that people considered questionable
in Michael's life. I personally am
unable to speak to them. What I will
say, though, is that we make a
mistake (in my opinion) discounting
the greatness of someone because we're
too busy questioning their faults
and/or perceived character.

There are millions mourning Michael's
death. I would suspect that the
reason may be in part because of the
fact that behind everything, he was
human, just like the rest of us.

Just now Rev Al Sharpton said to
Michael's kids, "There was nothing
strange about your daddy, it was
strange what your daddy had to deal with."
It was met with a huge round of applause.

We all have a yearning to be ourselves...
the people we are truly meant to be. I
think at the core we can all relate to the
difficulty in doing that at times, especially
in an environment of judgment that has the
ability to stop self expression in its tracks.

It is apparent to me, watching all of these
tributes, that Michael was well loved,
appreciated, and respected by many, and
many types of people. If he had been
anything else, but true to who he was, the
reaction might have been different.

Michael was loved for being who he was, despite
what public judgments were. How often is the
outward judgment out of alignment with what
"truly" is?

What might we get from this experience for
ourselves?

I have a new appreciation of Michael's music and
the message today. He truly had a beautiful
message, and sadly, as with many messages,
we only hear them when we are ready.

I knew about "We Are the World," but didn't realize
(or remember?) that Michael was a co-writer. I
leave you with the words of the song:

There comes a time
When we heed a certain call
When the world must
come together as one

There are people dying
And it's time to
lend a hand to life
The greatest gift of all

We can't go on
Pretending day by day
That someone, somewhere
will soon make a change

We are all a part of
God's great big family
And the truth, you know
love is all we need

We are the world
We are the children
We are the ones who
make a brighter day
So let's start giving

There's a choice we're making
We're saving our own lives
It's true we make a better day
Just you and me

Send them your heart
So they know that someone cares
And their lives will be
stronger and free

As God has shown us by
turning stone to bread and
So we all must lend a helping hand

We are the world
We are the children
We are the ones who
make a brighter day
So let's start giving

There's a choice we're making
We're saving our own lives
It's true we make a better day
Just you and me

When you're down and out
There seems no hope at all
But if you just believe
There's no way we can fall

Well, well, well, well, let us realize
That a change can only come
When we stand together as one

We are the world
We are the children
We are the ones who
make a brighter day
So let's start giving

There's a choice we're making
We're saving our own lives
It's true we make a better day
Just you and me

Perspective: On Being Oneself - in spite of obstacles

Once you see this, you might
find it difficult to believe
that it is a commercial.

Perspective Short: On Being Discouraged

In my email today I received the following
without attribution. I tried to find some
somewhere, without any luck.

If you know who said this, please let me
know so I can give proper credit.

On my way home one day, I stopped to
watch a Little League baseball game that
was being played in a park near my home.
As I sat down behind the bench on the
first base line, I asked one of the boys
what the score was 'We're behind 14 to
nothing,' he answered with a smile.

'Really,' I said. 'I have to say you
don't look very discouraged.'

'Discouraged?', the boy asked with a
puzzled look on his face...

'Why should we be discouraged?
We haven't been up to bat yet.'

Talk about perspective. :-)

With Love

I found out this morning that Eric De La Cruz
passed away on July 4th. No death is more
poignant than the ones that come closest to
home. My thoughts are with those who loved
Eric the longest, and knew him the best.

In addition, there were many people who also
came to know Eric through his sister's untiring
efforts, and I know that this must be a very
sad day for them as well.

If you would like to hear the news from
Veronica, and hear her tribute to her brother,
as well as some music that was written by
Eric, please visit
http://www.hedrichcreative.com/Eric.html

In tribute to Eric, @theexpert on Twitter sent
this message out regarding our health care
system, and suggested that we consider what
could be done so that change can be effected.

It has been said that our mind is unable to
resist answering a question. It makes me
wonder what a good question to ask here is.
It makes me wonder what question will get us
the answer(s) we seem to need.

If you have any ideas, please consider writing
them in the comments section.

Wondering who Eric is, and why I would be
writing about him? See my previous posts.

(ALL WORKS HERE ARE COPYRIGHTED.
ONLY USE WITH PERMISSION.)

Perspective: Creating Again

(ALL WORKS HERE ARE COPYRIGHTED.
ONLY USE WITH PERMISSION.)

Today I was thinking about beauty, and what it means to appreciate it.

I was "inspired" to do yet another work with pastels and
Photoshop. It started out one way, and went another,
and still another before it was completed. Again, I had
no idea where it was going to take me.

Is this what those who call themselves artists do? Is
this the type of process they go through? I always
figured an artist had some idea of where they were
headed before they arrived. Maybe not?

I am amazed. I just kept going, and the above was
the result. Maybe you don't think much of it, who
knows? But the awesome thing for me is that I love
that I am doing it!

I share these with you because maybe you will be
inspired to act on something you may at first think
is nothing. If you do, please let me know, I would
love to see what YOU come up with!

Perspective: Creation

(ALL WORKS HERE ARE COPYRIGHTED.
ONLY USE WITH PERMISSION.
If you like my image, this one
and others, is available in
card and other forms at
cafepress.com/joylovepeace)

The above image is another work that I created
in Photoshop, with the aid of a scanner and
oil pastels.

I started to do the work several weeks ago, and
almost threw it out. It sat for weeks. Last
night I finished the pastel part, but it wasn't
until today that I saw the finished work.

Amazing how sometimes we don't always see
potential, and might even "throw" things
away in mid-creation.

I have a much bigger image that I might do
something with...but not sure yet. We'll see.

This piece speaks to me, but as with everything
perspective, you never know if it will mean
anything to anyone else. Kinda like my
Letters of Love: messages that are very personal
for those who read them, but still very profound
for those having a human experience ;-).

Have an awesome day and weekend!