The Long Way Up

Art, in and of itself, already has an alluring appeal to the human senses if we give it time to penetrate and permeate our sight, hearing, sentiments, and sensibilities. Words written on several pages of paper captivate a reader’s imagination; paints splattered and combined on canvas pique an onlooker’s curiosity; a musical instrument utilized by a vivacious virtuoso ignites the passion of a listener’s heart. Something else entirely different happens when two art forms are combined: the impact on the human senses are exponentially increased. We see this in the amalgamation of photography (the art of taking pictures) and the performing arts (dancing, singing, acting), which together have given us the magic of movies and filmmaking. The concepts that one art form conveys seem to be made more crystal clear when expressed in concert with another artistic expression. To be specific, when the art of writing is mixed with the art of music, it creates a means for a songwriter to exp...

At a young age, there are many things that a child may wish to become when they grow up. Some might want to become doctors or astronauts or scientists. Others might desire to become police officers or pilots or ballerinas. At the age of ten, I remember wanting to become two things when I grew up: a teacher, and a priest. Around that age, I remember playing with my action figures, setting them up in a ‘classroom’ scenario where I played the role of teacher and they, by no choice of their own, became my students. During this childhood play time, I did not only give them lessons to learn, but I also pretended to give them exams afterward. I was probably a little over nine. Not long after that when, again, I had to move to another school — a Catholic school, no less — the other of my childhood dreams was incepted. To begin with, I had always felt a closeness to God even before I left the clutches of traditional religion, but having been exposed to the lives of the Catholic s...

Last week, while I was at my insurance company paying my regular quarterly investment, I was given their annual giveaway to clients -- a corporate journal/planner. Although it wasn't anything fancy (like a check for 10,000 bucks or a three-night stay in a five-star hotel) I found myself smiling, happy at the thought that I'm getting an unexpected gift. Later on after having left the insurance office, I opened the new journal and flipped through its empty pages. Right there I remembered how much I loved looking at unused pages of notebooks or planners (even ones that weren't mine) and started to think back to the fact that I have two or three journals that I had unknowingly collected and left blank. Why was I excited at the thought of getting another set of fresh pages to use? It's not like I have all the time in the world to fill all of them up. In fact I am at the moment lagging in filling out my current journal, one that I started at least four years ago. S...