Sit back, press play and watch Michael Shapcott do his beautiful thing - and in that moment, cast a wish that every child be born into such caring hands …
View the Drawing and Drawing 365 project by Michael Shapcott too. Thanks to Harley for finding this one. You’ll find another beautiful clip previously featured on Black Dog of Stormie Mills in a mesmerising act of transformation here. And he flunked art … so draw even if you think (or they tell you) you can’t. Stormie’s story here. Pass it on …
Following on from the previous Army of Ink trooper about being ‘enough’. Check out ‘Grounded Researcher’ Brene Brown’s website and particularly her talk on TED TV about the power of vulnerability, not being ‘good enough’, worthiness, connectedness, shame, authenticity, courage and more. It’s a must see, must think more about one …and you’ll find an interview with Brene in the latest Dumbo Feather Magazine too. Pass it on and you just might hear the world take a quiet sigh of relief as this courageous woman shares her story, her ideas, her vulnerability …
I call her ‘ The Star Refused ‘. Her story ….Completely fed up with this notion of ‘enough’, she tipped herself to one side and wondered … who is the great measurer of ‘enough’ anyway? The holy dispenser of self worth? The one who’ll grant her the fickle and often self defeating wish to be something more.
And what does ‘enough’ look like anyway? Feel like? Think like? Or … could it simply be a matter of knowing when to “Say when” – when you’re fed up with overwhelming expectation? Feeling not quite bright enough to work all this out further contributed to her sense of worthlessness and despair, so she put her ‘boots too hard to fill’ away and cried out load: “Enough is enough!”
From this declaration erupted an abundant supply of pride and joy and the realisation that there were a countless number of things to make her enough already – problem was, they were impossible to measure. And so …. in a supreme moment of co-ordination, she gave the troublesome measuring stick a long ride on a firm new shoe – sending it far beyond the world too big.
A strange phenomenon… when I go on Youth Focus camps and spend time with young people – one thing strikes me everytime. 20-25 young individuals arrive to spend a weekend together and often there’s only one thing they have in common – they’re all different. That ‘difference’ too, seems to be the carrier of loneliness, the feeling of disconnection and lack of sense of place in the world. But, over the space of a weekend, that very difference is what unites and strengthens them. Why? Because, unlike the world outside the camp environment, difference is valued and accepted there. So it’s safe to reveal their true selves, however strange, weird and unacceptable that might be to the outside world. And they are safe also to try on new ways of being without judgement and criticism. And it always makes me wonder … what if being different meant you’d never be alone again….what if society valued and appreciated difference as opposed to casting aside those who don’t fit the mould.
What if individual flags were flown in the face of the ‘one size fits all’ (we know it doesn’t). Wouldn’t the world be a far more interesting (and safer) place to be …. pass it on or click on the typewriter for a Clunk & Jam note you can print and stick somewhere to get others thinking about this strange phenomenon- and perhaps make some strange difference to the world….
Drawings by Ann James found in an old school magazine called ‘Blast Off’.
“Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes, the ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules and they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them, because they change things, they push the human race forward.”
Early Apple ad, as crafted by the late Steve Jobs, referenced at his October memorial service (found in Financial Review’s Boss magazine. Image from book ‘World of Wonder’ – recognise the guy in the tights?) Another one from Steve Jobs here. And movie , Pay It Forward about a boy with a great global idea here. The Gruen Transfer article is for thinkers too - here.
Click on the typewriter for your Clunk and Jam print and stick on noticeboards, walls, classroom doors etc to shine a different light on those who are often deemed ‘crazy’ (among other things) just because they’re different -and to champion for all the thinkers out there. Pass it on…
