A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man contemplates it, bearing within him the image of a cathedral.
Antoine de Saint-Exupery, The Little Prince
A large part of my thinking comes from the right side of my brain. Math, science, logic. No thank you. With the exception of thinking in words , which I do quite often, the left side of my brain lies dormant. I deal in visualization, the arts, imagination. Please don’t bore me with cold, hard facts.
Recently, I ran across a journal I put together several years ago. It consists of a blank book, except for an occasional quote, I filled it with page after page of photos cut out of magazines and put together in collages. Random images that appealed to me because I liked the way they fit together.
When I look back at the journal now, I seem to remember I was going through an English Country phase. The images aren’t really as important as the need to create. Scissors, magazine clippings, a glue stick. A pen and some paper or a computer. If the need is there, any material will do. Writers use the back of napkins or old receipts. Painters use cardboard or a wooden pallet.
Our world needs mathematicians and scientists, we also need authors and artists. It sometimes seems, we as a country, undervalue the arts as a whole. Novelist William Faulkner stated, “The artist has no more actual place in the American culture of today than he has in the economy of today, no place…at all in the mosaic of the American dream.” I don’t think , with the possible exception of the Kennedy presidency when arts and culture flourished, much has changed since Faulkner made this statement in 1958. So, we will keep writing on the back of cocktail napkins and painting on pieces of cardboard hoping someday our country will see value in the effort.
Aging with Grace 
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