A series of essays....
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| THE PAINTING “DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE” BY JOHN TRUMBULL. THE ORIGINAL PAINTING HANGS IN THE U.S. CAPITOL ROTUNDA. |
....as seen through my eyes!
By: Jacqueline E Hughes
How many times have you purchased an electronic item with all of its buttons and knobs, not knowing what each button or knob stands for or what duty it performs, and then place the instruction manuel aside for perusal another day?
History holds us accountable for our actions, or lack thereof, by leaving us with extra nuts and bolts after putting together the Christmas bicycle, or wondering why the garage shelving isn’t sturdy and discovering the side braces have been installed upside down. How often have you said to yourself and others, “I know this (insert name of item here) is equipped to do so much more! If I only knew what all of these buttons are for...”
Have you had the good fortune of sitting behind the wheel of your brand new vehicle, ‘new car’ smell intoxicating you with its sensual, short lived odeur de la belle vie, bedazzled by an instrument panel that you are certain rivals that of any Indy car, and look at the rather thick User’s Manual only when you deem it necessary to do so? How much air do the tires require? How large (or small) is the gas tank? What exactly does it mean when that little light on the dash comes on? That’s where we draw the line between really knowing about this amazing piece of machinery and just what we need to know to get us by while driving it.
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| SOMETHING SO SIMPLE LOOKING AND USED EVERYDAY CAN HIDE LAYER UPON LAYER OF ADDITIONAL FUNCTIONS. |
Looking down at my new auxiliary keyboard this morning convinced me of my own lack of inquisitiveness while several options connected to ‘ctrl’ - ‘alt’ - ‘fn’ and a little butterfly-like symbol attached to a key with a tiny lit lightbulb glowing below it stared me in the face and made me curious about what this keyboard could do. I never made time to learn about all of the ‘extras’ this seemingly simple apparatus has to offer before I began typing messages, notes, and blog material; ignorantly continuing life within my usual and comfortable set of patterns.
As in our everyday life, we humans navigate within set guidelines, hesitating to venture out and experience all of the possibilities that are presented to us and, are often, right before our eyes. The coronavirus is changing this basic attitude for many of us...to a certain degree; showing us how having more time on our hands can be a wonderful and very precious commodity while affording us the means to venture out, break new ground, and slip away from previously set patterns.
Like a domesticated cat, a crouching tiger navigating along the hardwood floor, curiosity places her in a position to pounce, if need be. With having more time as our incentive, we can embrace our own curiosity, personal passions and skills, with renewed inspiration, grace and vigor.
Even if we simply embrace a calmer, more mundane and less stressful lifestyle these days, that’s an accomplishment in itself. Like the brand new vehicle mentioned before, we are all amazing machines and capable of so much if our engines are running smoothly. Let’s suppose this unplanned (highly lethal) coronavirus pit stop is telling us to get serviced, refueled, and refreshed because the next leg of this crazy journey of life requires us to be fine-tuned and running at full capacity! Whether it be finding a vaccine for COVID-19, swiping our nation’s politics out of the hands of foreign influences, or marching and protesting for Black Lives Matter and all of the myriad of wrongs that need to be righted in our lifetime, we must be prepared!
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| NOT THE BIKE YOUR DADDY PUT TOGETHER ON CHRISTMAS MORNING... |
As many of us have briefly stopped for rest before continuing on with the road trip ahead of us, others have already read the thick manuals accompanying the seriously complicated looking piece of electronic equipment, the fancy, multi-layered keyboard, and the 27-gear dirt bike you know your daddy did not put together for you on Christmas morning! Times are, indeed, changing.
It’s election year and the possibility of changing our lives for the better rests on all of our shoulders. We cannot be afraid. Fear is what got us into this mess in the first place. Allow common sense to guide us in the right direction. If wearing a mask in public will help save our life and that of those around us and we are not led via good example...then it is our right and duty to change that example. If any of our elected officials abuse their privilege and power for personal gain and corruption, it is necessary to point it out and make change by voting them out.
We have become soldiers in this fight for our lives; learning to educate ourselves (again, reading those manuals), marching in the streets for the absolute rights of all people, even staying in place in our own homes in order to curb the spread of an horrific virus. We make the time to speak-out against what is wrong and try to correct it before it is too late to make a difference. Some of us are understanding the true meaning behind ‘white privilege’ and how owning it can open-up our eyes to how others have been abused by it.
We are becoming more aware of the term ‘implicit bias’ which describes when we have attitudes towards people or associate stereotypes with them without our conscious knowledge. According to Perception Institute, a clear example of this is seen in studies showing that white people will often associate criminality with black people without even realizing they are doing it.
Our cities are shrinking as more and more small businesses are being dissolved due to the lethal separation of politics and science. People who have worked long and hard to secure a slice of the American Dream are watching that dream become smaller and smaller until, eventually, it disappears.
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| FAMILIAR SHAPES THESE DAYS CUT FROM BRIGHTLY PATTERNED CLOTH AND COLORS |
It’s difficult to understand at times, but staring at my keyboard this morning precipitated this rather long trail of thoughts that had to be written down and digested at face value. There is so much information out there that’s adhering to us as soundly as iron-based metal shavings to a magnet. After a particularly long day, we can feel as though we have doubled in weight. This difficult burden is slowly being absorbed into our system, begging to be purified and refined before the morning light begins to appear and the process repeats itself.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men (people) are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” ——Portion of the Preamble to the Declaration of Independence.
My hope is that we all study our manuals on life before shoving them into dark, unlabeled cubicles, drawers, and glove boxes. Understanding what makes this world tick, which button to push and why, knowing what it will take to make that little dash light turn off, will help bring us together as one, collaborating unit and informed source of love and appreciation of one another. We can be unbiased, fine-tuned machines that strive as individuals and work well in groups for the betterment of our broken nation, a nation in dire need of a fix after four years of unbridled pain.
Stay healthy and contribute to the health of others by wearing a mask.
Copyright © 2020 by Jacqueline E Hughes
All rights reserved
