by Moe O'Brien
According
to my older sister, I had to stay inside the lines when I put crayon
to paper. The nuns told me that I had to modify the verb with the
adverb and the noun with the adjective. At the time I remember
thinking, who gives a
damm, but the
diagramming of endless sentences in sixth grade proved me wrong. Well
maybe it wasn’t so much the diagrams as much as it was the red
marks on my test papers. My parents harped constantly about the
polite manner in which to respond to my elders. It was ‘‘Yes Sir
and Yes Maam.’ I grew up then, working my butt off, to avoid
making mistakes.
I
am now seventy-two years old and I’m here to tell you that I want
to be honorable and I definitely wish to be more useful. I now
realize that being afraid of making a mistake has kept me from doing.
So my first step in this new freedom ride is finger painting. There
are no rules here and I am loving it. One simply dips a finger or a
whole hand if you want (who gives a damm?) into the delicious oozy
paint and smear it on to a wall or paper or floor or a piece of
furniture. I would advise that you don’t try it on your pet. All
you have to do then is freely and flamboyantly, with rhythm and joy,
wave your instrument around and see what happens. Whatever happens
is sheer fun. It may not be correct according to someone else, but
it is right for you.
Please
try it out. I’ve got my fingers in red paint right now and I bet
you think I’m painting a heart. Of course, why wouldn’t you think
that? I mean red means love and it means a heart and it means
Valentine’s Day. For me right now, it means freedom. And I don’t
feel the need to add blue and white. I am free.
