I spent the last couple of days interacting with several hundred people. Here in the little town of Escalante on the last week of September, a Plein air art festival is held. It has been going 16 years and grows a little bit bigger each year.
I live in a home directly across the street from all of the activities. The artists begin to trickle into town about a week before and they participate in various classes, competitions and demonstrations.
I decided after a few years of observing that I would participate in my own way.
The old board fence was getting rickety and needed to be replaced so in own way I customized the fence facing the festival, I made a drop down panel that makes into a table. OK, I added a few prayer flags and some organic farm signs, and a few other things that might not be traditional, but they were me, my personality.
I live in Potato Valley, at least that is what it was called when they first arrived because of the wild potatoes that grew in the valley. Archeologists have dated them at about ten thousand years old. They found pottery and other shards in this area that still had potato DNA.
I thought it would be fun to have a potato festival, maybe even a tater tot parade with the kids. That hasn’t happened yet but I decided to furnish an Organic Coffee and stuffed Organic Baked Potato bar during the art festival.
This is my third year and we sold about a hundred potatoes and I lost count of the pots of coffee that I served. Artists and volunteers got free coffee for the week and the others paid $6 bucks for a loaded baked potato. I guess I probably started something that I might not be able to get out of.
Weeks before the festival people started asking if I was going to do the potato bar and I said, Ok I’ll do it.
As you know social media has gotten mean spirited and people are blaming and complaining about most everything. I have unfriended and unfollowed countless people and pages because of the negativity. I have seriously cut back on computer time, I had to, the air waves are toxic with bitterness and blame.
This year I decided to do something a little bit out there even for me, I put up some political signs. I did it as a dare and also as an experiment to see how people would react, and boy did they ever react!
I listened as people vented about the state of the country and the leaders, the difficulty with the changing environment, diet, wifi, and a myriad of other subjects. For the first day I mostly listened, but today I chose to do it differently, after they vented I ask them, “What do you like?” That question stumped them. Some said they didn’t like the state of the country, religion, environment or some other thing. I asked the question again, “What do you like? What do you want to happen?” That made them stop and think, most couldn’t come up with an answer. Some gave weak responses so I reminded them that the things we focus our attention on are the things that come back at us. Cause and effect, sow and reap, karma, you know, that kind of thing. It changed the whole feeling of the conversation and I found that most of the people were so focused on blaming something outside of themselves that they don’t have any positive thoughts on what they do want.
Other people came up and quietly gave their support and thanked me for voicing the same opinion that they held, they wished that they could do the same but it was too risky to face the fallout from the negative responses.
Loudmouths, I relate them to schoolyard bullies, making lots of noise and generally upsetting the rest of the kids.
I bought a book a few years ago called the NO Asshole rule, it laid it out plainly that we live in an environment where the loud and toxic few often rule.
We must not allow them to ruin things for everyone else.
So, I ask you, “What do You Want?”
I hear what you don’t want, but what do you want?
This week has given me a fresh perspective on the people that live around me and the many who came to visit.
Do you really want all the negative?
I don’t, I want a peaceful place where I can share the good and enjoy simple things in life.
We will attract those things that we focus on …
I will find the good in the world and the good in people.
