Careless Chatter

I put both of those paintings here this morning for obvious reasons and put them side to side for a similar reason. I will say nothing about them and leave them simply as they are and let them say or not what I intended them to say. I have painted these with a great deal of thought and respect and leave it at that.

Sometimes it is better to say nothing than to say something that might upset. What is it they say? Careless talk is the work of the devil. But it is more than careless talk careless actions or non-action can often lead to things happening that we never intended to happen.

There is a famous and true account 

For want of a nail the shoe was lost; for want of a shoe the horse was lost; and for want of a horse the rider was lost, being overtaken and slain by the enemy; and for want of care about a horseshoe nail. 

All our words and actions lead to consequences some of the frightening results.

I listened to a programme in the middle of last night about the tale of the blue whale and the group set up on the basis of it. This was a so-called support group fo people feeling deeply depressed who was, in the end, persuaded that the best way forward was to commit suicide. A frightening number of young people have been drawn into this and gone to the ultimate end. Fortunately, the group has now been removed from social media. Another sad case of actions and words leading to disastrous results.

on a lighter note let me recount this that I heard as a youth during my time involved with the world of music.

Steve Green, who sang six years with Bill and Gloria Gaither, tells about getting to know some of the work crews in the large auditoriums where their concerts were held. The Gaithers prefer concerts-in-the-round, which means extra work for the "riggers," who walk the four-inch rafter beams, often a hundred feet above the concrete floor, to hang sound speakers and spotlights. 

For such work, understandably, they are very well paid. 

The quotation I was given by one of the musicians around at the time went as follows.

"The fellows I talked to weren't bothered by the sight of looking down a hundred feet," says Green. 

"What they DIDN'T like, they said, were jobs in buildings that had false ceilings, acoustical tiles slung just a couple of feet below the rafters. They were still high in the air, and if they slipped, their weight would smash right through the flimsy tiles. But their minds seemed to play tricks on them, lulling them into carelessness."

How often we act in careless ways or say something best just left unsaid and the final story and result can be dire.

So this weekend I say no more and hope in all sincerity my paintings say it all.

Have a good day and a thoughtful tomorrow.