PRACTICE MAKES WHAT?

PRACTICE MAKES  WHAT?

If you said PERFECT you would be normal.  But when it comes to the arts, I say PRACTICE makes PROGRESS.  I suggest that PERFECT doesn’t exist in art, or other human endeavor.  I suspect not even Bach or Michelangelo would argue that their masterful work was perfect.

If there was a perfect to achieve, there would be no incentive for schleps like me to try. Is the Sistine Chapel perfect? Many suggest it is. If so, why have millions of artists bothered painting anything? If I can’t paint like Michelangelo, or produce a better Mona Lisa, why try at all? The same is true for great writers, thinkers, musicians or poets. Why bother if we can't be as good as Shakespeare or Hemingway?  Vince Lombardi, the great football coach, said Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence. 

Why some think art must be PERFECT to be valuable escapes me. But I hear such thoughts all the time: “I can’t even draw a stick man”. I had an art student named Mary who PRACTICED with me for two years. Others came and left, but she stayed. At first, she was the least promising in the class, mostly because she was 82, completely ignorant of watercolor techniques and disadvantaged by arthritic hands. But Mary was never after perfection. She was after the joy of trying something new, something she always wanted to try, and she was pleased with PROGRESS, not disillusioned by PERFECTION.

My grandsons produce several dozen drawings a day, but none are perfect, judged by standards of perfection. But we still love them and marvel at their sometimes unrecognizable pictures of the family, proudly displaying them on the refrigerator or wall. They haven’t learned yet to worry about perfection. To them, it is perfect, as it is to us. You see those etchings represent something flowing from their blossoming minds and hearts, not something that reminds us of Norman Rockwell.

Forty years ago, when I was learning to paint, I gave a juvenile level painting of a cardinal, painted on typing paper, to a very wealthy friend who immediately tucked it into the frame of her original Norman Rockwell. Why? Was it comparable art? Yikes no! But it was a gift from a new friend. Recently I painted another cardinal, on better paper with better skills, and gave it to a grieving widow because she and her late husband both loved cardinals. It was a simple gift from my heart to hers, far from perfect and maybe not even very good, but it was sincerely sent and gratefully received. 

My brush with watercolors started, like Mary's, with a desire to try something that looked like fun. Over the last forty years of PRACTICE, I can point to some PROGRESS, and actually enjoy hearing others tell me how GIFTED I am. But truth be told, every time I hear that word GIFTED associate with my art I bristle. Why? It’s not some faux humility because I believe I am not a gifted artist at all. 

To me a gift (including spiritual gifts) implies something is given complete, ready to use. The gift I do acknowledge is even better than painting. My gift is that I have an incredible amount of artistic DESIRE to paint, to write and learn. It’s nothing more than that. My job has always been to PRACTICE and improve every muse that captured my heart. With each form of art, I have practiced them, at different times, for decades, every night, mostly with great failure but occasionally with relative success. For every painting I sell, however, I toss least five. I published a book that took three years, all  day, to finish. It wasn’t gifted to me, it was as the great Ben Hogan said about his incomparable golf swing, dug out of the dirt.

I have always envied people who played the guitar or piano well. I suppose a few here and there received a gift to be able to play without much work, but they are a statistical anomaly, not the norm. As a young girl, my wife was required to practice an hour each day, and if she missed a day, tomorrow was two hours. To achieve her paternally enforced quota of practice time, she chose to get up an hour early every day, sometimes while dad was still in bed. Today, she is a marvelous player, not because she is gifted, but because she paid the price of practice, not to become perfect, but to make progress with every scale or tune she played. 

We tend to label people as gifted, or say they are geniuses, mostly because we can not understand how they can write or perform at a level we don’t understand. They make beautiful music, create lovely art or think deep thoughts that escape most. So naturally, because of our low self image, they are labeled gifted. Certainly, there are a few prodigies born each century, and some geniuses, but mostly, the best in any field are just people who spend time PRACTICING. Yes, even Einstein went to school to learn about physics.

Steve Jobs said: "It is more important to seek good, high quality work over a long period of time than to seek perfection in any particular project. People are paralyzed by perfection". Fast Company "Progress Versus Perfection". 

In his book THE OUTLIERS, Malcolm Gladwell says, the truly great in any field practiced their craft or skills at least 10,000 hours, usually alone at a considerable cost to themselves. An outlier is not your grandson who knows how to use a computer better than you. They are the people everyone knows, even when they are on our personal radar. Some notable outliers include The Beatles, Bill Gates, Wayne Gretzky and those folks who breath the rarified air at the top of any field of human endeavor. 10,000 hours is not a guarantee for greatness, nor is it the only factor in achieving such heights, but is the threshold investment required to excel beyond the merely great, that moves the few toward superstardom.

Whenever I hear a potential art student say "I could never do that. I can't even draw a stick figure" I shudder with frustration. Yes, it’s true that I can never hope to be as great as my watercolor instructor Dylan Pierce, or my friend Vickie. I am not even close, but that doesn't stop me from trying. I won't make a living selling my art, but that doesn't keep me from painting. I mess up far more than I succeed, but it's still fun to try, and I usually learn far more from my failures than from my successes. 

(Ibid. See Steve Jobs article in Fast Company)

Remember, the longest trip begins with the first step, and every accomplishment starts with the decision to try. 

It's the same with life, isn't it? We hide the bad stuff about ourselves but strut the good stuff, even though we know the truth about both. We deserve less blame for our failures and less credit for our successes, but we learn as children to balance both, if we are to survive. Happily, as long as we seek truth, overcome fear and embrace every inch of PROGRESS, we are winners in life.

My limitations rest only in my lack of DESIRE AND COMMITMENT to make PROGRESS.  Do you know whatI see when I compare my first painting to my best Zebra? I see not only a huge difference in quality, but beneath the paper, beyond the brush and behind the colors on the paper, I see growing COURAGE, great COMMITMENT and gratifying DESIRE.

Your muse may not be painting or art, but something else calls you to TRY IT!  As Kurt Vonnegut says, sing in the shower, dance to the radio and write a poem to a friend. Remember, the master has failed more times than the beginner has even tried. 

For me, art and painting are not the same thing. One creates an image-the other produces a copy (painting) of something recognizable.  Both are good. While anyone can create something on a page, not everyone can produce a satisfying and recognizable image, unless they spend a lot of time learning how. Creating something allows the artist to be free from the expectations of perfection or reality. Copying may turn out messy and look foolish or out of sync with the object, but creating your art reflects you and your heart. 

It’s the same with music. I have friends who create music that sells, they make a living doing it and more often than not leads to cries of “genius” or “gifted”. Others, equally talented, created sounds that reflect their souls and tell a story they want to tell, usually without receiving any kind of public or private acknowledgement, and certainly not fortune or fame. Should they quit trying because others don’t  appreciate or understand their art? I imagine Igor Stravinsky shocked people with his  “noise” long before he was called a genius.  Bach was a largely unknown  church organist unit after his death someone found his stash of priceless music. Similarly, Emily Dickinson’s worth was not widely recognized until after her death. That story goes on and on. I hope someday that list includes me. 😎

My message is simple. Don't shortchange yourself by stopping before you start. As long as you try, you are participating in the PROCESS of discovery, and if you PERSIST, you may not reach someone else's idea of PERFECTION, but you will experience a glow inside that enhances your self-image and increases the tally of beauty in this world.

I was just introduced to this quote from Kurt Vonnegut. He and I are kindred spirits, but only because he an I both decided to try, and we never quit. It’s too much be part of the process. “Go into the arts. I’m not kidding. The arts are not a way to make a living.They are a very human way of making life more bearable. Practicing and art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow, for heaven’s sake. Sing in the shower. Dance to the radio. Tell stories. Write a poem to a friend, even a lousy poem. Do it as well as you possible can. You will get an enormous reward. You will have created something.” Amen brother. 

Jack C. Getz

Revised 9/28/17

Personal Freedom

Pitchforks, Torches and Today’s Politics

My take on Al Franken, Roy Moore and associated events.

I hate Al Franken. I hate the way he took the seat from a good man named Norm Coleman, Someone I knew a little. I hate his politics and his attitude about most things.

BUT...my feelings aside, I don’t think Franken, or Moore can be judged fairly now, and eliminated from ELECTED public office for things that allegedly happened years ago, if at all.

Judge Moore is accused by a number of dubious last minute females of things that allegedly happened decades ago. He has run several times for public office and won without their opposition. But today, he is judged guilty by his own party leaders, few of whom could withstand the bright lights themselves. I know he deserves the opportunity to face his accusers and defend himself  because he is innocent until proved guilty. The number of accusers may be significant, but they may also be associated with people on the left who are willing to pay for their sudden heroic accusations. I don’t know, neither do you. If the people know the accusations and have heard both them and him, and still elect him, he’s a senator in my book. If he’s proven to have done even a few of the things credited to him by the ladies and the left, throw the bum out. I am quite taken by the fact that this CRITICAL vote in the senate is under attack in this climate of whistle blowing “victims” who carry more clout than they should, at least until both sides are allowed to defend their positions.

Now, Senator Franken is being pressured by many in his own party to step down. Why? He acted like a jerk back when his job was to act like a jerk. A clown, clowning around years ago, but not today.

The principle at play here is one that must be heard in these times of sexual witch hunts. We all have the ability to change, despite previous foolish and harmful behavior. Am I to be judged by who I used to be or by who I am now?

We are in a time of witch hunting over things of the past that don’t match modern values. Thomas Jefferson is a bum because he had slaves. Robert E. Lee and all his armies are to be shamed because their slavery ethics is not our ethic today. Donald Trump was a frivolous young man so he can not be believed today. Judging previous generations by current values is the act of fools and ignorant zealots.

Let me ask you a seasonal question. Was Ebenezer Scrooge a good or a bad man? Am I a bad or a good man? Are you a good or a bad person? Same answer for all of us. It depends on when you make a judgement.

People have the capacity to change and other than sociopaths and the mentally ill, we are far better judging by what we KNOW now, not by what we have heard ABOUT someone, or think we know.

If Franken still does those things, boot him. If Moore has not had any other accusers for thirty years, maybe he deserves his day in court before being shunned and labeled.

I have done things long ago that I cringe thinking about. I have also been falsely accused, but my friends are those who know me now and still love me. You too?

The sad thing is that people who are normally balanced and objective get caught in the web of Political Correctness, or worse, they grab their pitch forks and torches because they fear they will be the next objects of the mob if they don’t. It happened in Salem, Massachusetts long ago and it feels like it’s happening again to undeserving individuals.

If you don’t know for sure, it’s better to go with what you do know...for sure.

Jack C. Getz

Spotting the Philosophers Among Us

Philosophers are:

Consumed by truth, realising, like few others, its magnitude and unparalleled significance. 

Never satisfied with answers derived from others.

Unable to leave pregnant words/ideas alone: birth must be given; the new life cherished and shared. 

Restless. 

Often poets. Almost Always writers. (Except Socrates).

Avid readers of many subjects. 

Contrarians, but not always contrary.

Solution seekers, not just dreamers.

Connected to nature in unusual and meaningful ways.

Social commentators and pundits.

Boundary pushers.

Usually not understood or appreciated. 

Paranoid.

JG

The Dynamics of Silence

Wasn't it Mark Twain who said, it’s better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt? As usual, this man of many words struck gold with his pungent use of them.

Despite what many may think, I am a great believer in the power of silence, though like Twain, I am not the best practitioner of the art. I am, too often, the man who tells others, When I want your opinion, I’ll give it to you. I know my active mind, and how it  longs to couple up with a dark compulsion to add my two cents to any debate. It goes without saying that when the nitro glycerin of my overly active mind meets with potassium permanganate of my convictions, an explosion takes place, and my good motives and logical perceptions get me in trouble, often of late in the form of being Unfriended on Facebook. 

Silence is possibly the most underrated virtue in the human arsenal. It is both powerful and gentle, depending on it’s use. It’s power is seen in the fact that it alone unlocks the power of 

the mind that is commonly held captive by the dishonesty of the tongue. In other words, spending time in our secret place of silence is the only time when honesty is free to do it’s painful but necessary work of molding our character.

Silence and honesty form a tag team that never loses. One empowers the other, and between them, we will be molded into people who understand the tranquillity of order that comes from personal integrity, or we can resist their strength choosing instead to sit and sip Dr. Jekyll’s brew becoming crazed with the disorder of duplicity and the false self. 

I believe that everything ultimately improves for those who unwrap the gift of silence regularly.

Amazingly, silence both rewards and punishes those who seek it. One day, the box contains gifts of affirmation depending on how well we align our values with our routine practices of life. When we treat others as we would like to be treated and follow the inklings of love, we find silence completely golden. But, when we disregard our best values in order to achieve selfish goals, spending time in silence is like being chained in a medieval dungeon awaiting the next round of torture.

Our experience with silence is either the most peaceful time of the day, or the most painful, depending on how we demonstrate, or disregard, the daily rhythms of order that grow in the fertile soil of silence.  

Jack C. Getz

September 24, 2017

A Farewell to England...Europe...America?

An open letter to our grown children...

Not looking to be freaky, but the list below is what scares me about America now, and especially into the next generation. PC culture is lulling our grandkids into apathy and convincing them that liberal revisionist history is the way things happened. You know? The USA, and our culture, is ALWAYS the problem? 

Growing old is not a bad thing in the face of this kind of world, but my wonderful family will face a tough world that will be less like Happy Days and more like Hijrah Days unless someone stands strong. 

Hijrah means conquest from within. Because they can have several wives,  they create huge families who will eventually take over politically, in only a few decades. Europe is there now, all in the name of globalism, tolerance and "brotherhood".

It's now a social sin to honor our forefathers. Kaepernick is a hero to the new generation. We who have a problem with his actions are minimally, racists, bigots, haters of women, children, immigrants, clean air, clean water and the human race in general. Oh, we also love C02 imbalances and just adore barren forest lands as well. 

Dearborn and Dearborn Heights, Michigan are now mostly controlled by Islamic culture. Churches and schools are closing, people are moving and a vacuum is created for more Islamic power brokers to expand.

I read last week about  Rabbi in Spain who told his congregation to move to Israel because "Europe is lost". 

I may be a fool, but to me, and millions of others, President Trump - with all his many personality warts- represents a last hope for our culture. They call him a hater because he is trying to hold on to and protect our uniquely wonderful way of life, surrounded by a sea full of well-paid truth haters and race baiters who influence our young people to hate those who lAmerica. It's not a right wing theory, we see it happening in Europe, and 

Michigan as I write this.

I'm not calling for hate, but vigilance, hoping the next few generations of our kids will learn from the mistakes made in Europe, and you and their teachers will not be pressured into politically correct revisionist history. 

Despite what we see every day, not everyone in the world is our brother and sister. Islam has a long history of taking over countries both quietly and militarily, then putting down the Shariah hammer. They have never been innocent bystanders or victims. They are like evangelical Christians toting nuclear weapons. 

Just rambling today because I love you all so much. 

Dad

Sent from Jack's iPhone 

Begin forwarded message:

To: Getz Jack & Barbara <Jandbg15@comcast.net>,
Subject: Fwd: Farewell to England

FYI

Sent from my iPhone

Begin forwarded message:

"Farewell to England"


This is an interesting "Farewell to England" list of Islamic
accomplishments in that country that I thought might give you a better
understanding of the insidiousness of Hijrah; that's the takeover of a
nation without going to war. Don't think for a moment that America is
not a target or that there are no American cities where Islamic and
Sharia victories and takeovers have already occurred. It's time for
border control, or start planning for a very big goodbye America
party!

Here's what has already happened to England within a few years of
opening their borders without entry control:

How the British have passively succumbed to the Muslim invasion:

Mayor of London ... MUSLIM

Mayor of Birmingham ... MUSLIM

Mayor of Leeds ... MUSLIM

Mayor of Blackburn ... MUSLIM

Mayor of Sheffield ... MUSLIM

Mayor of Oxford ... MUSLIM

Mayor of Luton ... MUSLIM

Mayor of Oldham ... MUSLIM

Mayor of Rochdale ... MUSLIM

All the following achieved by just 4 million Muslims out of the 66
million population:

Over 3,000 Muslim Mosques

Over 130 Muslim Sharia Courts

Over 50 Muslim Sharia Councils

Muslims Only No-Go Areas Across The UK

Muslim Women... 78% don't work and are on FREE benefits/housing

Muslim Men... 63% don't work and are on FREE benefits/housing

Muslim Families... 6-8 children planning to go on FREE
benefits/housing and now all UK schools are ONLY serving HALAL MEAT!


..... and we (the USA) can't decide on an immigration policy?

Dreamers Causing Nightmares

A beautiful young lady spoke at her high school graduation. She spoke of courage in overcoming adversity and other noble ideals.

She's going to Yale next. I guess on scholarship but I am not sure.

Then she ruined it for me by revealing that she is an "undocumented alien" and repeatedly said "UA's are real people too". "Wow...deep", says Maynard G. Krebs. (Look him up under The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis).

In that confession she said the wall represents "hatred and prejudice", the predictable and vapid statement of the left.

I wrote the follow response to suggest that her view is both shallow, illogical and inaccurate. Clearly she was not taught the art of using logic in her valedictory journey. I doubt if they will help her with her deficiency at Yale either. Maybe life will later.

She is smart but very shallow and completely nieve.

The wall isn't about hate and prejudice, it's about law, order and a maintaining a level playing field for those who play according to the laws of our land. Her family broke our laws,  no matter how smart, courageous and sweet she may be. They cut in line to get the goodies, disregarding those waiting for their opportunity to go to Yale, or get a job.

No one ever said ILLEGAL immigrants (not undocumented. Documentation requires a respect for the law and a process of acceptance by the host country.) were not people too. Most are fine people. Many are awful, however. That's really what Donald Trump meant with his early words about the illegals.

We lock our doors at home because there are some nasty people who would do us harm if we didn't. There are locks - and border rules in every country - not because we hate people, but because we understand that while most will do us no harm, some certainly will.
The same goes for our businesses. Most citizens will do nothing if there were no locks, but some would, so we have locks.

Peace is the tranquility of order, not chaos. We need order on the border. (Augustine).

Our national borders are the same. We don't hate anyone because we make them obey our laws, but we must protect ourselves against those who want to harm us. All this "hate and prejudice" talk about the President's wall comes from shallow and manipulating people who have their own selfish agendas, seeking their personal good above the collective good of our nation and our traditions.

That's the part they don't get. It's the part that endangers our nation and scares all who want and understand the purpose of a wall. Empty headed celebrities and politicians who say "let's build bridges, not walls", live behind walls themselves, with armed guards and locks on their property. Why? Don't they love everyone?

America was built by those who "more than self their country loved... and America is sustainable only when "selfish gain no longer stain the banner of the free."

It's alarming to see this kind of story celebrated as she she openly flaunts the laws of our nations. Everyone rejoices in this young girl's success in overcoming her challenges, but I for one do not celebrate the fact that her naive words disrespect those who cherish our freedom and recognize that it's because of the law that we have any form of opportunity and security to pursue our dreams, as she did.

The sing says our "liberty [is] in our law".

Screw you American law, tradition and justice. I'm going to Yale. What are you going to do about it?

Jack

The American Healthcare Dilema

Just my opinion, but I dont think conservative voters are so committed to the REPEAL AND REPLACE mantra as the conservative cauccus is selling. It's a catchy phrase, but essentially, voters expect the party to create a healthcare system that works, costs less, covers the poor and doesn't create another huge entitlement tax or budget burden, whatever they call it.

I think if they saw R&R as a metaphor for a system that works, not a hardcore principle that must be obeyed, we might see something wonderful happen tomorrow.

I believe the first healthcare issue is a liability safety net that keeps the middle class from disaster should they experience a catastrophic accident or illness. A tragedy ought not consume a lifetime of savings or make someone indigent.

The next step needs to address primary care for those who can not afford the open market, while providing a competitive climate, not a closed governmental solution.

I have some ideas that must be tweaked, or combined, but also might work. (Think big picture here, not details).

1) Give hospitals grants to expand energency rooms and staff, creating healthcare networks for uninsurable and low income people.

2) Restructure the current Medicare system to allow the poor to pay into it, not like Social Security where we consume more than we contribute, but like a government insurance agency - not a single payer system, but one more option to the open market...like we have now.

3) Immediately eliminate state insurance lines, prohibit pre-existing condition bans, create truly open market  competition, expand health saving accounts for those who can afford them, enable large groups to take advantage of their numbers to have cost effective policies for members (alumni associations, unions, churches, Moose Lodges and businesses). The working poor and disabled could be paid for by their small deductables and a universal 1%-2% state healthcare tax on some consumables, a 1% universal national healthcare tax, higher end open market health care policy costs (to mollify the left who loves to stick it to the rich, their major donor base).

KEY : Enable the states with block grants to care for thier own poor, (not Uncle Sam.) use Medicaid grants in a new way to create revenue for state run systems.

4) Encourage wellness plans like Silver Sneakers to become part of every senior citizen insurance plan. Wellness could save billions of dollars. 🏃

Nothing we do will be without sacrifice. It must be reasonable, however, so my kids and thier kids are not burdened with crippling healthcare costs. We must provide care for the poor, reward the middle class with incentives and ask the wealthy to lead the way.

We are in this together and watching both parties addressing this critical issue in a partisan way is a public shame. Leave your idelogies at home and talk to each other. We the people will have our way. We can do this, but it must be together. Fat chance!?

JG