Time to Own Up

I've let this blog just sit here for over a year. My friend Nadia has inspired me to do more than let things sit. I have a lot of things I want to share with my relations-words, images, music, ideas-so I'm going to work on making this something that puts it all together. I guess, I hope, it's going to be a "multimedia blog" as I tie all the talents Creator has given me together to fulfill the responsibility those talents lay upon me.

Make no mistake, talent does impose responsibility. Creator drove that point home to me over the past few months. A lot of it I owe to Nadia, because she is the sort of Type A person who is always doing something creative, always has plans and goals. As I helped her to reach some of those goals, and saw how much we share, I realized I was squandering much of what I have been given.

Ever have the Spirit speak to you in an unexpected way? I was watching the movie "Fame" and there's the scene where piano prodigy Bruno Martelli is saying he doesn't need anyone to listen to his music. His instructor says "That's not art, that's masturbation."

Then I read an article that said that the only real value of a photograph is in what it says to those who view it.

So here I am, realizing I have been gifted with some modicum of talent in 3 disciplines, and I've spent years thinking they were mostly intended for my own enjoyment. Now the curious part is a sort of false humility is the cause of that. I never thought I was nearly as good a storyteller/writer/communicator, photographer or musician as others said. (Ok I'll admit that when I was in high school and college I knew I was a better than average musician). I've come to realize that when "humility" leads us to let Creator's gifts to us, languish, bearing no fruit, then it's not humility at all. It's the pride of thinking that we might fail. Fail because we depend on our own whiles rather than letting the gift shine forth.

Letting such gifts shine forth requires discipline, and I started eschewing that because I was foolishly proud enough to think I didn't need to fulfill the responsibility my talents require of me.

Now I'm not talking about becoming the sort of egocentric prima donna that so many talented people become, assuming they have the right to do so. That's foolishness. Gifts from Creator are just that, gifts, and so should be treated with due respect. Held as sacred. Nurtured and developed the same way parents raise a child. Then offered to the world not as a way of getting rich or promoting self, but of saying "Creator has given me this gift, and now I pass it on to you.

So my plan is to offer the 3 gifts I bear, words, images and music, as best I can. I realize the 3 are meant to be joined together, much as the Three Sisters (corns, beans and squash) were cultivated together by my Mohawk ancestors.

I hope I am up to it, and stay true to the vision Creator has given me.

Nia:wen,
Rain