photo by Elaine A. Russell

I took this photo a couple weeks ago, at the Factory on 5th BBQ. At the time, I was just playing around and taking photos for my on-going series of photos of the Factory http://www.flickr.com/photos/31979552@N08/sets/72157619258924678/

It's been a rough couple of days emotionally for me.

I mention this only because, as I was tweaking this photo a bit digitally, it got me thinking about alot of things. It got me thinking about the face that we put on for the world. How we try to project a certain image, or reflect specific values, or just plain try to be nice to everyone.

Is it merely a facade > does it go deeper than that > are we merely mannequins in this world .....

I think most of us try to be genuine individuals. We try our best to be as nice to everyone we can, without becoming doormats to the evil people in our lives. We fine tune our perspectives in life, and try to be as honest as we can. We don't force our opinions on others, and encourage each other to be who they are ... warts and all.

Sometimes life gets messy. Things are said hastily, things are mis-understood, feelings get hurt. We are not mannequins wrapped in plastic afterall. No polyvinyl to protect us from what ever is getting flung... be it directed at us or not.

Life is so short.... too short to allow stupid things to get in the way of life's true learning experiences.

I'm not a big fan of Jerry Springer. ...although I have seen a few of his shows. At the end of every chaotic episode, he has a nice little monologue.. the end of which goes something like....""take care of yourselves... and each other.""

I kinda like that.