maybe sometimes man is an island

                   

I was reading an article in Down East magazine about an artist in Maine who paints the same subject over and over.  His name is Tom Curry and he lives in the mid-coast Maine town of Brooklin.  The subject that he continually paints is a small island about a mile from the town’s coastal shoreline, Chatto Island.  And while the subject of each artwork is seemingly the same, each painting looks remarkably different reflecting the various moods of light, clouds, tide, and weather.

Tom’s friends will often say “What? You’re doing another painting of Chatto Island?”  But Tom responds “Its not the island I’m painting.  The island is about one fifteenth of the whole picture.  Less!  What is really happening in these paintings is not the island, it is everything else.”

 This makes me think about the young people that are around us and part of our lives.  I can’t help but make the comparison to the elements in the environments that surround them.  I think of the many things that affect them — parents, friends, teachers, school life, church, sports and activities.  Are those elements bringing sun, or rain, wind or calm? 

 I hope that when you encounter a young person (or anyone for that matter) you will think about what element you are bringing to their environment.  Are you bringing sunshine?  Can you bring a sense of calm if they seem to be experiencing turmoil?  Maybe sometimes man is an island and we can be the element that changes the weather in someones life, even if only for a moment.