camicazy
Meshed Up
The Scream
The Scream.
I couldn't seem to draw myself from staring at the painting.
The Scream. A scream being made by a distorted man,
shouting for God knows what, captured by an artist on paper,
brushes, and color.
I never found out why Norwegian artist Edvard Munch made the
painting. I never found out the reason behind that
masterpiece of isolation and fear. All I could do was to
guess why the man was screaming, why he had his hands on his
cheeks, why his eyes were so hollow, and why his mouth was
opened in that long and silent scream. All I saw was a man
who seemed to be chained to where he stood, helpless, and
letting out a cry of sheer frustration with mankind, for
their cruelty; a cry of desire for peace, harmony, and real
joy.
Isn't that what we want? Isn't that what we wish for?
Peace? Harmony? And real joy?
Every minute, people cry out in pain. Every hour, people
contract new and various diseases. Every day, people die of
unknown causes and unknown reasons.
Every country has been to war and every race has experienced
racial discrimination. Each one of us, whether we admit it
or not, have enemies and every one of us have certain
preferences when it comes to people. Sometimes, we even
hate people just because. What's more is we treat them
cruelly because we hate them.
A girl can dream can't she? Then let me tell you about my
dream, a dream that has long been lost ever since I stepped
into the real world. A dream that completely contradicts
The Scream, a dream that I have decided to capture on paper,
brushes, and color in my mind.
Dip the brush of your imagination into a light color of blue
and paint on the blank canvas of life. Spread it across the
upper part of the canvas to represent the sky of happiness.
Now add a touch of white onto the blue horizon to make the
clouds of joy come to life. Picture a world where happiness
is never lost and where sadness is non-existent. Wouldn't
it be almost like heaven? Now pour in the green grass and
the gay flowers onto the canvas. The flowers live in
harmony with the grass, never bothering each other, and
seemingly contented with where they are. Now, in come the
animals, running wild and free with their hearts pumping
proudly and joyfully. Picture a world where animals can run
free, never fearing for their lives, and never wreaking
havoc on each other. Dip that brush into a different shade
of blue and make the flowing river of love become reality.
Make its love run deep to the little fishes swimming beneath
it that it is willing to serve as the home of these
creatures without asking for anything in return. That is
how love must be: to give and to give, and to give without
asking for anything in return. Now set out the different
colors of the rainbow and paint one as beautifully as you
can. Let this rainbow be the symbol of unity, the mixture
of a thousand colors from the dullest to the brightest, and
yet one in shape and one in purpose. United. For the
finishing touch, paint a man and a woman of every race and
every culture be they white or black or red or yellow.
Paint them with their arms intertwined, their heights the
same, and their smiles as wide as the other. Let this stand
for peace, equality, and the feeling of joy of being with
each other.
Picture a world of happiness, joy, harmony, love, unity,
peace and equality. Would it be almost like heaven? No.
It would be heaven.
This painting is a childish dream but I believe that each
one of us has dreamt this one way or another. We all came
into this world with bright hopes and fierce determination.
We thought the world was a good place. The painting in our
minds became bigger and bigger and our expectations grew
higher and higher. We looked forward to growing up, to
making new friends, to living in a fun-filled world, to
being contented with our lives. Then, bam! The world came
crashing down.
It was then when we realized that the world isn't anything
like the painting.
There is such a thing as sadness. There is such a thing as
war. There is such a thing as hate. There is such a thing
as discrimination. There is such a thing as fear. There is
such a thing as pain. There is such a thing as death.
We had climbed too far up into our expectations. When we
realized that everything wasn't what we thought they would
be, the drop down was higher and harder with more impact and
more pain. We were more affected and somehow wished that we
shouldn't have expected too much. That way, we wouldn't be
so disappointed.
I have realized, painfully, that the world really is cruel
with all its wars and everything. I used to hope that one
day, peace would come and wrap the world in its embrace. I
used to pray that love would capture people's heart and stop
them from doing anything to hurt anyone. I guess those were
just wishful thinking…they would never come true.
I am burdened with how everything is. I don't understand
why everyone just has to fight with everyone. I can't see
the point in disliking other people because of their skin
color. What good will it bring us if we just fight with
each other and refuse to live in harmony with one another?
Have we not thought that this world would be a better place
if we learned to hold on to one another? Won't the world
fare better if everyone helped each other? Why do we have
to kill? Why do we have to hate? Why do we have to ruin
other people's lives?
Enough with the hypocritical religious leaders who tell us
to turn from our ways! Enough with the white people looking
down on other races! Enough with wars between countries
over certain pieces of land! Enough with thinking that men
are far more superior than women! Enough enough enough!
Now I know exactly how that man in The Scream felt. It's
like knowing that this certain apple has a worm inside it
and since you know that the worm is bad for the fruit, you
want to get rid of it and yet you don't know how to coax it
out. I know exactly what is wrong with the world, and yet I
don't know how to get rid of it.
The blue sky in my painting slowly turned to gray. The
flowers withered, the animals turned against each other, the
river realized that she was tired of serving as the unpaid
shelter of the fishes so she decided to dry up. Nobody
cares about her anyway. The fishes died, the rainbow
disappeared into the dark horizon, and the humans dropped
their arms. They wiped their smiles off their faces and
turned their backs on each other. Welcome to the real
world, baby.
The painting grew darker and darker because we had kept it
locked up for so long. We just dumped it in the dark attics
of our minds and forgot all about it. There, the painting
collected dust, spider webs, creepy crawlies, and other
things until it became too horrible for words. It was so
dirty that we couldn't even bring ourselves too look at it,
what more to touch it.
Let us start by taking this painting out of the dark attic
and slowly wiping off the dirt that it has accumulated over
the years. Let us hang this beautiful piece of art on one
of the walls of our heart's brightest area and let its
beauty shine through. Let this painting be our goal, our
mission, and not just our dream.
All I'm saying is that even if we are only like needles in a
haystack, we should try to do something. It might not make
a big difference to the general public, but it will surely
change one or two lives. And I'm telling you that changing
one or two lives is better than not changing any at all.
A journey starts with a single step…no matter how small or
how big that step might be.
Let us act now before we grow tired of showing everyone just
how beautiful the world can be. Let us do something now
before the painting starts to accumulate dust again. Let us
bring this painting to life and turn it into reality.
It is a hard task but it's got to start somewhere. Why
don't we let it start with you and me? Let us join hands
and reach for the same goal and live for the same purpose.
Let us prove that The Scream is only an artist's nightmare
and not a reality. Let love, peace and harmony radiate from
our hearts and souls.
I was finally able to tear myself from looking at The
Scream. Even though it had hypnotized and saddened me for a
while, it was able to remind me of so many things. This
world can be a better place if we choose to make it a better
place. It told me that hey, instead of focusing all of your
attention on this sad picture here, why not just concentrate
on that dream slash painting in your mind? Let it serve as
your guide for living and let it serve as your mission in
life. Don't just let the painting return to its original
color. Instead, let the grass grow taller, let the flowers
bloom more, add some birds that fly happily in the air, and
add more colors to the beautiful rainbow. It may be a hard
thing to do, but in the end, it's all going to be worth it.
Do you believe that? Baby, you have to.