The Grand Canyon
29” by 35” / Acrylic, Gold Frame/ $ 799
The beauty of the Grand Canyon is overwhelming. I was there recently on a snowy day which added to the contrasting shadows and colors.
Escape from Market-Speak
The political wrangling for president has just begun and already I am tired of market- speak. One candidate wants revolution while another prefers walled-in isolation. One plans to bring jobs back, in part by lowering the minimum wage. Another says pay must be raised. And then . . . Get rid of Obamacare . . . transform it . . . replace it with a single payer system. Free community college for all . . . improve education . . . eliminate the Department of Education. “I love the uneducated,” says one. Wall Street is bad, billionaires are bad, businessmen are good, billionaires deserve it all, politicians are weasels (but,mine is OK). Why do the poor feel angry and neglected? She’s a bitch, he has a big penis, he can’t be trusted, she’s a liar, he waffles. He’s a religious fanatic, he’s an atheist, and look at the bigot. Bring on the guns, build defense, reduce the military, negotiate, make deals. We’re Americans and live in the greatest country on earth, but need to be great again. Respect us, fear us, personal freedoms are passé, waterboarding is in. . . bomb the hell out of them. Go to rallies. Yippee!!! a fight! just like Germany when Hitler first came to power! What fun!
What fun? You’ve got to be kidding. This year’s scary rhetoric makes me want to escape from news broadcasts and television debates. Where to go?
Last January I revisited the Grand Canyon and was reminded that nature provides the best escape route. The view was beautiful, breathtaking, and expansive. Daily concerns disappeared as I meditated on the millions of years it took to carve such a natural sculpture. The air was still pure and the view unobstructed. Its silence enabled me to hear my own heartbeat underneath the rustling of wind on nearby trees.
We the People deserve to have the Grand Canyon be a National Park as much as we do Oregon’s Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, Yellowstone, and the Everglades. What right do ranchers and militia groups have to take away what is ours for the private ownership of a few. Americans need places to go that remind us that we are of nature and have a relationship to all that live in the natural world. As we destroy much of our planet, those few areas that are set aside for contemplation are increasingly more valuable for they bring us back to reality. It is not the words of politicians that matter most, but the actions of our citizens as good stuarts of the land. In nature we are no longer self-center but reminded of our connection to every tree, particle of air and movement of water.
This year, as much as I can, I plan to breathe the stillness and soak in the beauty of the woods, lakes and oceans. And so I will find my peace.
Art is always for sale. Contact me at marilynne@eichingerfineart.com.
______________________
For sale on Amazon by Marilynne Eichinger: The True Story of Streetwise, overcoming homelessness and beating the odds. Go to http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01AAXMJOG