A Life in Retrospect

This morning early my uncle, Robert Bell, passed away in Sarasota, Florida.  In the hours that have followed, my mind has been reliving all the occasions that I encountered with this great man.  He has truly been a role model for me, showing me how to love life and people in ways that I'll never forget.  

As my mom's youngest brother, Robert Bell was born as the son of missionary parents to West Africa and endured a horrific torpedoing as a young boy by a German U-boat along with my mother and grandmother during WWII.  They survived a subsequent 20 days afloat at sea in a tiny life raft with 20 other passengers. A number of books have been written about that experience, including one by my uncle titled In Peril on the Sea, co-authored with D. Bruce Lockerbie.

One major trait that my Uncle Bob demonstrated was his great heart for people, demonstrated in a variety of ways.  He was an elementary school principal on Long Island, NY for years, having started out first as a third grade teacher.  As principal he purposed to be in and out of each teacher's class daily so that he knew well how things were for both the teachers' and parents' sake.  He liked to be out there to greet the students arriving on the buses in the mornings.  He took young people on bike tours in New England.  A fellow student with my uncle when both were at the reputable Stony Brook School said of Uncle Bob, "He was----and is---the genuine article....I never saw anyone more caring about others, especially the underdog."

My uncle sought to meet in Germany with the very men who torpedoed his ship during WWII, establishing some wonderful new friendships based on forgiveness.

Here he is pictured with the torpedo man, Edmund Wilshusen in Germany, who had fired the two torpedoes sinking the ship my uncle and mom were on.

Robert Bell loved God and  people.  Life wasn't all about him.  He noticed others and showed interest in their lives.  His was an exuberant love for life demonstrated in a youthful spirit all the way into his senior years.  I am blessed to have known him and be inspired and shaped by his outlook and life!

Going Backward to Go Forward

Mt. Whitney, CA

Watercolor sketch

A flood of memories engulfed my thoughts during lunch today as I was reading in On The Edge:  The Art of High Impact Leadership by Alison Levine.  Alison has climbed the highest peak on each continent, including Mt. Everest, taught at West Point, and had a career on Wall Street.  Her life isn't boring!  

As she was relaying some thoughts regarding her climb of Everest, my mind slipped back to 1979 when I was invited to climb Mt. Whitney in California's Sierra Nevada Range.  Mt. Whitney is the highest mountain in the lower 48 states at an elevation of 14, 505 ft.  There are so many lessons to gain from climbing mountains and my climb of Mt. Whitney was was full of instruction, mainly about life.  I'll never forget the tedious 1,000 ft. near- vertical snow field that I inched my way upward using my pick ax to gain ground.  

In reading Alison's book, a paragraph jumped out at me today that is so true about life. Here it is:  A great fallacy regarding progress is that it is defined by constant forward motion in the same direction.  We assume that any steps in the opposite direction take us further from our goal.  Not true...Getting to the top of Mount Everest, for example, generally requires a great deal of time climbing backward----away from the summit.

The reason for the backward element to climbing is that there is no straight path to the top.  You go up and down and around and back and forth.  And the metaphor for life is found here.   We set our goals, but the route to achieving them often is anything but straight ahead and to the floor.  The route seems so often full of descents and circuitous paths.  You wonder if you will ever get there.  Discouragement and loss of vision can be snags to catch you along the climb.  By taking it moment by moment, working on the task at hand, and being patient with the process you gain ground.  It is all about process and adaptability, being flexible and learning lessons as you go.  It is about trusting in the faithfulness and sovereignty of God.  It is about acknowledging that you don't go it alone. Others provide invaluable support and teamwork.  And it is about keeping in view how worthwhile attaining the goal/the summit will be.  Finish lines are awesome!  Here's one finish line that beats them all....

          I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for 

          which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.

                                                                                                             Philippians 3:14

                                                                                                             NLT

Slow and Steady Wins!

Take a moment to remember this famous story from Aesop's Fables....the one about the tortoise and the hare.  For those who are younger than baby boomers, that is turtle and rabbit.  It is one of my favorite stories.  Why?  Because it has such an awesome truth to anything you do in life!  This story challenges and inspires me to live by the axiom "slow and steady wins the race".  

As an artist, I am challenged to show up and do the work.... to create something of value every day at my easel.  In reading Austen Kleon's newest book "Show Your Work"  he underscores the significance of focusing on what can be done in this day, not on what needs to be accomplished in this month or year (emphasis mine).  He reasons that we can wrap our heads around the time frame of a day, but get lost in a year's length.  

Kenneth Goldsmith made a statement that fires me up to think in this "one day" dimension:  "If you work on something a little bit every day, you end up with something that is massive".  What you do in a day adds up to days, weeks, months, and then years....a legacy of your work.  In doing all this, you have to let go of perfection and just create.  The problems and rough parts will amend over time.  Don't wait until that "perfect" moment or that "perfect" piece of work.  Just do it and do it and keep up doing it.  Your volume will create value. 

The following cartoon is one that my youngest son Jacob created to encourage me to keep at a steady pace.  I cherish this reminder.                             S  L  O  W  and   STEADY!

(click on photo for a closer look)

Pay Attention!

     I can still hear my dad admonishing me to"Pay attention!" as a kid after I'd done something that obviously demonstrated my mind wasn't where my body was.  The scars on my leg, the broken tooth and cut lip, the smashed bicycle, the gash in my head, and my two broken wrists all testify to the fact that I've not been mentally where my feet are.  

Francis Bacon said that "the job of the artist is to deepen the mystery".  To cause others to look again.  To reflect.  To consider.  Anne Lamott stated that "writing is about learning to pay attention and to communicate what is going on".  I am slowly learning to pay more attention, not only to where my own feet are, but to what is going on under the surface of life. 

An event that I have been paying more attention to lately is the tremendous story of the Lewis and Clark expedition from St. Louis to the mouth of the Columbia River.  The impact and saga of their exploration for the United States is monumental.  I am pouring through their journals along with a number of books by others, some of whom have also retraced their epic trail.  It is creating in me a desire to follow in their footsteps, sketching and painting the land and people along the way, journaling from my  21st century perspective, and putting it altogether in a book.  I am enjoying taking another look at this great historical feat.  We'll see where it all ends up!