The Story of Builders and Destroyers

Mary, "Returning the Nails" after the crusifixion.  Bronze, 19".

With the tragic Tucson shooting it is heartrending to see the fruits of the political vitriol we hate so!  There's further pain witnessing the pathetic struggle for the high ground among the right wing.  None is worse than Sarah "Lock and Reload" Palin displaying on her Facebook page a graphic of this district overlain with crosshairs, even after the massacre!  Later her spokesperson agreed with an interviewer's suggesting they were not crosshairs but "surveyors symbols".  (Right, I'm sure she meant to say not "Lock and Reload" but "look and re-evaluate!").  And though they can't apologize at least they are embarrassed enough to try to cover it up.  Progress!

History is full of destroyers getting the better of builders. Any idiot can buy a gun and become a critic with an even louder voice than any builder or saint he critiques.  It is nature that gives the immediate advantage always to the strong. Real solutions require real effort. There are only two ways to "win" against a destroyer. One is to become a better destroyer yourself, (which is why an action film feels so good even though what separates the good guys from the bad is often mere perspective). The other is to rise to another level to enact a solution, which is always a long-term, frustrating process. Rabbits don't "win" over coyotes, they outperform them as insurgents outsmart militaries and poets out-envision oligarchies. What can we possibly do?

We creatives must in just this way rise to a new level to overcome the debasing forces of consumer-driven contemporary culture. Day after day I labor in my studio, trolling for vision; struggling to build the image or idea that might help transform our current situation. I might succeed or not, (it feels futile!) but deep searching is what is needed. As my hero and friend Archbishop Tutu says, "We are not called to be successful; only to be faithful". God help us. Please!