Lush, robust wildlife is all over the place in Okinawa--I did not realize it when growing up here. The past few months, however, I have been immersing myself in another kind of aesthetics: the visual arts. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, the artist attests...altho' I've enjoyed being able to experience a new kind of appreciation, I've also developed a wariness to the mindset that would permit any individuality and call it good quality. I think it is a slap in the face of the actual skilled artist to accept any and all in that way.
I don't know exactly how to state this, but I know what I mean. May I give a little example? I have an artist I highly respect who can take the folds of a wilted flower and give them the worth of gold with the atmosphere, character, texture, feeling she can bring out of even that. I have seen some of her paintings and can only imagine how she must've first felt when she saw lifeless plants and the time she spent infusing them with the life she did, how it made her feel when she was done (but then true artists are never fully satisfied with the work they do).
Every work is worthy. But not all attain to the same quality--not hardly.
Let's put that aside. Even the top gold medalist would not be able to jump as high as the moon. Those flowers blooming in the Tokkuri Kiwata tree in front of our house show a glory no gold medalist will ever be able to attain. And that birdie in the tree several paces to the right would cock his neck up to look up at the moon in the sky. The moon doesn't even shine with a beauty it has worked hard all these years to give off, but it simply reflects the glory of the SUN, doesn't it?
I was going to show you the Tokkuri Kiwata tree mentioned earlier to talk about it, but 3 mins. outside, and I felt my fever coming, so I had to come home. Man, that sun sure is hot! I'll tell you about the Tokkuri tree tomorrow, okay? I made and drank about a third of a glass of lemonade, splashed my face with water, and had to lay down for an hour's nap.
Yup, I slept, didn't work hard at all, dreamt about the time we grew up here, I think. Children are carefree, let their parents take care of them, do all the hard stuff. "Live for the Glory of God?" That kind of religious lingo little kids didn't think about.
