It's no secret--I have never really been able to draw a straight line, even with a ruler. It's not that it has incapacitated my life. It has just made creating school project posters and hanging pictures straight slightly more challenging.
It occurs to me that my life is perhaps not so different. While some people make one-year plans and five-year plans and ten-year plans, and find help from rulers--the boss kind and the office supply kind--I find myself far more often simply following the not very straight line (somehow of my own making) that is set in front of me. If the line curves a little, I curve with it. If it requires me to work hard to keep my balance, I cling on for dear life. I don't look back much. Following a not very straight line is hard enough as it is.
Not "drawing" straight lines can be an adventure. It can be freeing. But every so often, I wonder if my life would be simpler if there were just a few straight lines. If you can draw a straight line, you know what the title of your poster will look like. If you can draw a straight line, you can feel as though your artwork will hang straight, your hems will be even, and your life will come with some sort of predictability. Sometimes, all those things seem pretty attractive.
So, every so often, I pull out a ruler, the office supply kind. Maybe I can draw straight lines now, and know where they will lead. Chances are, I just have to keep making the best of whatever lines, crooked or straight, that I can draw.
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