06.24.06
My newest and oldest work of art.
That younger brother of mine. Every bit of nineteen and still raging for more partying. I don’t think he has eaten for a few days, I haven’t talked to him enough through his life or been a close enough big brother, I am not trying to patch up his life and make it all better but . . . I am trying to keep an eye on him. The other day I bought him and his friends some food, took him to get a job application, bought him a paper to look for apartments. The kid hasn’t listened to me since he was 12. Even though I know this I am trying to give him some tips for life, I am trying to figure out the angles where some tiny bit of wisdom may sneak in. I have to think like an MP3 player; warm, fuzzy and easily digestible. I say “if you are going to be a trash man then be the best damn trash man you can be.” He ponders this and says it makes sense – then I tell him that I am not the person to first say that – that it was said by a great human being – he asks who – I say “It’s a surprise, you will find out soon if you keep your eyes and ears open, just think about that the next time you are looking for a job, or an apartment, or a car, or in your case a bike; do the best you can each time.” I hope this gets in a little, and leaves enough interest for the real answer.
The more and more I think about it he has been the greatest work of art I have been lucky enough to work on. I feel almost like a parent – yet since my wife and I have no children yet I’m not. So I don’t feel like I own him – I feel like he is his own canvas hanging out where ever he can but some of the paint I flung at him may stick, and help to give him a life of his own, a face that other people see, I hope that my work ends up being a little more than superficial, I hope I can bring some life to this out of work, out of a car, out of food skinny 19 year old, still has a few pimples and that scraggly little goatee I used to think was so cool and now find ridiculous and disgusting. I love to watch him evolve with whatever things I can bring to his life. I am always reminded how much art is like life and life is like art – every time I open my eyes I am amazed.
