More tears are shed over answered prayers than unanswered ones
— Mother Theresa
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This is a little piece that I did many years ago, one that never made it out of the studio. A piece that is really for me. It’s not a great piece of work, maybe not even good. But it’s one of my personal favorites. It’s informally called Be Careful What You Wish after the old adage: Be careful what you wish because you may just get it. I always bear this saying in mind to remind myself that with everything there is a responsibility, a cost that may not be evident on its surface.
Something we often fail to ponder when making wishes and decisions. Unconsidered consequences.
Kind of like the story of the Monkey’s Paw, the old tale where a family receives a monkey’s paw from a friend who has just died. The paw is a talisman with the supposedly mystical power to grant the holder three wishes. The family wishes for money and their son is killed in a horrific accident and they receive a large amount of money from his insurance policy. After the funeral, they are stricken with grief and they wish for their son to be alive again. Soon, there is a knock at their door. It is their son–alive. But still horribly mutilated and in extreme agony. They use the third wish to wish him dead again.
Actually, this reminds me more of Pandora’s Box, where Pandora is given a box (or jar, depending on how the story is told) by the god Zeus with the instructions to not open it under any circumstance. Of course, she does. immediately, all the evils in the world are released and in her panic, she slams the lid back down, trapping Hope in the box.
My little guy seems to be in the same situation. In my mind, he was digging for things that were better left alone and they soon flew from the pit he had dug, even as he feverishly tried to refill the hole. What exactly they are, I am not sure. There is a giant that peeks from beneath a tree. Perhaps they are demons. Or regrets. Or lesser versions and aspects of the digger, things he has been keeping inside for all his life.
Things betters left alone.
Like many things, I am not sure. Whatever the case, it remains a little painting that always triggers thought in me…
Redtree Times 