Back in December we went up to wine country for J.'s birthday. We had breakfast at The Fremont Diner and afterward stopped at Cornerstone because the shops there are always an interesting browse. We were still a little early so we checked out the sculpture gardens.
I didn't manage to capture the plaque about this installation so the artist and title remain unknown. The concept is genius. The mesh gives the dark storm clouds a lightness reminiscent of the real thing. The lower edges are strung with crystals which evoke rain and draws a silvery line.
It makes rain a silver lining. One of the hallmark phrases that comes from growing up in the Cleveland area is somthing that tells folks to stop feeling sorry for themselves:
“it could be worse.”
It is usually followed by at least one example. On the one hand it makes us appreciate that things are so bad. On the other it can force us to fixate on the negative as it happens to other people. Knowing that something worse is out there and specifically that something worse has happened to someone known tends toward gossip. It causes us to take on part of that burden: at least I'm not that guy. Cleveland: at least we're not Detroit!
If instead we look for the silver lining the positive stems directly from the adverse situation rather than from a better-worse comparison. I'd like to be reminded of these clouds and that idea more often. Wonder if they come in miniature.
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