New Day Rising– Now at West End Gallery
In private places, among sordid objects, an act of truth or heroism seems at once to draw to itself the sky as its temple, the sun as its cradle. Nature stretches out her arms to embrace man, only let his thoughts be of equal greatness.
–Ralph Waldo Emerson, Beauty
I was going to write about the new painting above, New Day Rising, this morning and still am, in a way, but in the historic context of what has taken place in the past 24 hours. I thought this painting was well summed up by the words of Emerson above with the sky as the temple and the sun as the cradle with the Red Tree representing truth and heroism. The landscape seems to be rising up around the Red Tree as if embracing it and providing validation that its purpose is just and right.
That’s what I see in this painting and I can easily transpose that same feeling to what we have witnessed in President Biden’s decision yesterday to step aside in the presidential race. I think anyone with any inkling of history will recognize what a historic and heroic moment we were experiencing. The understanding and willingness to set aside ego and power is a rare thing in any human under any circumstance and even more so when it takes place at the level of the President of the United States, arguably the most powerful position in the world. And even more so when that President had so many times, throughout his life and in his time as President, been underestimated and counted out only to eventually prevail.
Though he felt he was still the best person to fight against the darkness of the moment and had a list of accomplishments perhaps unmatched in presidential history, the President came to recognize that he was no longer the best chance to move this country forward and defeat the threat of authoritarianism from the other side.
Make no mistake about it, to step aside in this moment was a historic act of heroism.
But only if we finish the job and stem the tide of impending autocracy. Only if we act with the same level of purpose, empathy, and devotion that are embodied in President Biden.
Don’t get me wrong. I don’t worship at the altar of Biden. He certainly is not perfect. Nobody is, despite what the nutjobs in the cult that now makes up so much of the GOP think of their criminal, immoral, self-serving candidate.
At the end of the day, President Biden is a decent and caring human being who has always been willing to step up for others.
And sometimes that’s all you need to perform great acts of heroism.
Now it is up to us to do the same. Starting now…
Here’s one of my all-time favorite songs that I have shared here several times. It’s Heroes from David Bowie. This semi-acoustic performance is from the 1996 concert to benefit the Bridge School.
We can be heroes just for one day…
Redtree Times 