She was trying to make a disparaging point about a certain group of people, but she didn’t want to actually come out and say it. The image was on my business card that sat on the table. “You know…one of those…” she said pointing at my woman in the blue scarf. “Italian?” I questioned, because that’s who I painted, an Italian woman. We both knew she meant a Muslim. (Thrown by the scarf, I guess.) “Oh, no…” she stammered. And the subject ended. Or had it begun? 

I suppose we all see what we want to see. 

The name of this painting is, “Nothing here I can’t rise above.” It is meant to convey hope and strength. The willingness to look beyond and above. So if I ask that of others, I must ask that of myself. It would have been easy for me to say, “Oh, so you’re one of “those” – meaning something entirely different, but still derogatory. (Oh how those “those“s can get us into trouble. 

She didn’t want to be full of hate. Neither did I. So we continued the conversation. Different angles. Different topics. Finding common ground in what we all really want, nowhere near the ground actually, but somewhere above. And that was the point of it after all, to rise above.

When I saw the photo of the Italian, paired with my lake scene, I thought of this conversation day. Because I do feel buoyed, indeed. We can do this — come together. It is a choice to rise. Daily. And above.