Be Careful What You Wish For — 1996
In this world there are only two tragedies. One is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it. The last is much the worst, the last is the real tragedy.
—Oscar Wilde, Lady Windemere’s Fan (1892)
This is a little piece that I did many years ago, that I call Be Careful What You Wish For. It never made it out of the studio except for a brief showing at a public exhibit of my Exiles pieces a few years back. It was never meant to be shown, actually. It was done solely for me. I can’t say that it’s a great piece of work or even good. But that doesn’t matter because it’s one of my personal favorites. It’s after the old adage: Be careful what you wish because you may just get it. which is pretty much in line with the oft-quoted line above from Oscar Wilde. George Bernard Shaw is sometimes credited for this passage, having employed this same sentiment in his Man and Superman a decade after Wilde.
To be honest, I don’t care who wrote it first. Whoever wrote, it’s a thought I always bear in mind that every desire, every decision comes with a responsibility, a price to be paid that may not be evident on its surface.
There are always unconsidered consequences we often fail to ponder when making wishes and decisions.
That’s what this small inconsequential painting from 28 years back is about for me. It’s tells a story much like Pandora’s Box, where Pandora, the first woman created by order of Zeus, is given a box (or jar, in some versions of the tale) 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.
Part of me wants to editorialize here about the Pandora’s Box that has been opened in the recent election, about the unintended consequences that those who chose to open the box will soon realize. Unfortunately, these darker consequences, the price that must be paid, will be felt by all. That’s all I will say on that this morning.
Just felt that it was an appropriate image for this particular moment. Now let’s get on to this week’s Sunday Morning Music. This is a version of the Bruce Springsteen song, The Price You Pay, from Emmylou Harris. There’s a verse and chorus in there that goes:
Now they’d come so far and they’d waited so longJust to end up caught in a dream where everything goes wrongWhere the dark of night holds back the light of the dayAnd you’ve gotta stand and fight for the price you payWoah, the price you pay, oh, the price you payNow you can’t walk away from the price you pay
Seems about right…
Redtree Times 