A People Who Believe

Focusing on Beauty ©2009 Shiloh Sophia McCloud

There are days

when it seems

life is too big for us

and that no matter

what we dream up

or change we commit

to making

it won’t make the difference

we actually need.

But as it turns out

it is not the change

itself we are in need of

although the critic

will always point

it’s crooked finger to that.

What we are in need of,

first and foremost,

is being a people

who believe change

is possible

even in the face of

the impossible.

And the ability to act

from that faith

instead of acting

from our despair.

We are destined

to rise and fail

and rise again

to love and hurt

and love again

to win and lose

and win again

to create and destroy

and create again.

It’s just like that here on earth.

But I like it here.

I like the mystery,

the provac0tive buoyant bliss

of existence.

As long as the poets can write about it

and the singers can sing about it

and the painters can write about it

and the dancers can dance about it

and the gardeners can plant about it

and the speakers can speak about it

and the lovers can love about it

and the dying can praise it

and the living can live it

then…

The world will continue to

turn round and round

and grace will dance with tragedy

like she has always done.

What we, the lovers of life

must do, and I do mean,

must do

is express ourselves and our passions

express our voices and our images,

as it is our substance that holds

certain essential particles together.

(For example, Van Gogh’s sunflowers

counter pollution. Cassat’s happy babies

fight child labor. Beetoven’s Ode to Joy

counters depression. Buckminster Fuller’s

roads counter accidents. Alice Walker’s

color purple raises awareness.)

Maybe you don’t believe me that art

is an essential thread in the

fabric of the world, but I don’t care.

We are a people who believe

there is hope for us, for humanity.

(The alternative to not believing is grim)

We may not know, how or when

the real revolution of true love and true peace

will come finally and reign. But…we the people

believe anyhow.

Some say it is money that makes

the world go round…

But artists know better.

Click here to see my new video about the same topic,  “Making a Change”

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all people are created equal,

that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,

that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Declaration of Independence 1776