Some More Late Night Lessons

I am reminding myself that putting a person or persons on a pedestal can very well lead to some heavy pain when that pedestal falls over, breaking convictions and bruising beliefs.

I hold artists in a special place because I want to believe that they are doing good, that they breathe some sort of rare air. I hold them there because I too want to be considered among them. But I also hold them to a higher standard, which their failing is remarkably like a sin in my version of a religion.

I need to remember that artists are human and they will behave as such. There are those that absolutely believe in and chase the infinite, the divine. There are those that travel to another realm and come back speaking a different language, doing their best to translate for the rest of us. There are those that never let loose that little bit of wonder given, as gift, to us as children. There are those who are truly artists even if they do not call themselves such. For every one of those true soldiers however, there are those posing for a glamorous photo. There are those, sometimes it seems like so many, that eat their own hatred and will stop at nothing to pull you down into a mire with painted smiles and elegant glasses of wine. There are those with no knowledge or respect for the sacred in art.

Important to remember that within artists, like within dock workers, there are those who live their lives with an indelible light in their eyes, and there are those who can't wait to tear that light out.

That was a lesson handed to me on Friday and Saturday.

Another lesson handed to me: When you, like the ignorant teenager you sometimes behave like, drink a fair amount of alcohol on an empty stomach, there is no amount of post drunk eating that is going to fix that situation. Even if it involves Triscuits, Garden Herb Triscuits.

Lesson number three: It's so very good to have your special lady friend and your son back home after a week away. This is true even when he wakes you up with his crying in the wee hours of the morning. Man, that kid's smile is gonna be the death of me.