Back to Human Kind-ness
Tipping the balance toward the good
If this title sounds pretentious or overly optimistic, this may not be the site for you. We’ll be exploring good works and good deeds here,
often through the lens of sheep.
Sheep?
Yes, sheep.Why choose sheep as a modern-day metaphor for people, for humankind?
They do seem to get a bum rap in some circles: there are “sheeples” who are described as bumbling thoughtless people lacking the ability to think independently. Au contraire. No sheeples allowed. Why sheep? Indeed.
Now, I am not a shepherd
I cannot gaze out my window or walk with my Border Collie or llama in the midst of a flock. I live in Washington, DC! However, I’ve been inspired by sheep—along with art works, stories, and websites about sheep— for many years. Yes, I made the mixed media sheep wandering around the website.. Stay tuned, I’ll show you how to make your own sheep soon.
Need to be convinced?
Need convincing that sheep are worthy of our attention? Makers of all stripes have turned their gaze in their direction. Listen to J. S. Bach’s secular aria (or an instrumental arrangement) of “Sheep may safely graze.” Or “All We Like Sheep” from Handel’s Messiah.
Consider literature
How about writers featuring sheep? There are the real life adventures revealed in Living with Sheep by Chuck Wooster with Photographs by Geoff Hansen. There’s also The Shepherd’s Life and The Shepherd’s View by James Rebanks. For hilarious mystery and mayhem seek out Leonie Swann’s Three Bags Full: A Sheep Detective Story. May I add one more? Find a copy of Henry Moore’s Sheep Sketchbook. It just might inspire you to pull out a ballpoint pen!.
Tune in!
There are so many wonderful websites that invite us to watch and listen to a flock grazing. Need to mellow out? Tune one in! Consider the vital role that sheep play in various cultures. Intrigued? Search no further than the Navajo and the North American Churro.
Artifacts
Then there’s the wool. We make it into all kinds of useful cozy articles (preferably handmade) like sweaters, blankets, mittens! Try sleeping on a wool pillow nicely stuffed with wool. Divine!
We could go on
But the main focus is on how sheep might occasionally help us explore good works, good deeds, and just plain positivity. We’re out to tip the balance toward the good here.
Resources
Activities
- Take on a new project
- Resources
- Untap your creativity
Food for thought
In his 80s, Edward Hopper was asked by an interviewer what advice he would give to a young painter. He had a one-word reply: “Work.”
“What powers artists who reach old age? The work,”
Richard Lacayo, a former art and architecture critic for Time, is author of “Last Light: How Six Great Artists Made Old Age a Time of Triumph.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/12/06/artists-old-age-hockney-bourgeois-katz/
“Celebrating what we hope for together is better than fighting over what we believe separately.”
― Steven Charleston, Ladder to the Light: An Indigenous Elder’s Meditations on Hope and Courage