Show Q c tI I 1 t. I Expressing Ours Ourselves t tT T TN N New York ork there is ts a little old lady who Ie IeN 1 I at at the age age of 94 spends about all of her ber tim painting pictures I Thirtyfour Thirty years ago the last of her chil- chil iren dren had grown up and gone out into the world For the rest of her life this womans woman's ti tune tithe ne- ne was to be Ube her own as we say Always she bc had wanted to paint so she bought au an easel some sonic canvases brushes and paint and proceeded to gratify her wish She has been painting picture pictures ever since To be sure the pictures she paints arent aren't has sold and I very good She never any I ver has tried to She is painting for her own oi li amusement and md she is having a fine time doing it too And we have a feeling tJ f she is a wise old lady In every everyone one of us there is an m impulse tomake tomake to tomake to create make life beautiful and significant for the pure joy of creating i Some men are fortunate enough to have J bs that provide an outlet for this impulse Most y t st of us are not in that class classie We Ve cant can't in Ut the hackneyed phrase express ourselves in ino o work No man can give vent to an inner d desire ire for or beauty by tightening bolts in a fact factory fac fac- t tory ry all aU day or by hammering a typewriter by selling real reat estate We Ye have to seek expression in our spare time Too often we v e fail to 10 find it Ve We get amusement ins instead ead i we listen to music that r. r 4 someone someone else plays lays read books and poems 11 someone else ele else has written go to the theatre the the- atre atte and see plays that hat someone else conce con- con ce ved And while these things are valuable fRev 1 leave us unsatisfied There is something every ve ery eryman man man that makes him him want to do something methin of that kind himself f 1 All right why not try it i Get 1 t box of paints and some brushes a aritt paint some pictures Hunt up a teacher arid ard learn to play the piano Or if your taste runs that way sit down with a pad of paper arid a pencil and write something something poetry poetry Says a novel anything un under er the sun that you ou feel like writing Get a set of tools and make old ship models Get a box of plastic clay and try your hand at sc sculpture This isn't saying that you have unde- unde Eloped talent Maybe you But tl that f doesn't matter Suppose the pictures that illat you paint would make a competent artist lift an eyebrow i suppose that your writings I see the li light ht of day what then There Thereisa isa joy in creating that is worth great trouble IQ experience In the old days when life was simpler and ad there were fewer fe m machines chines it was more moree e ca sy y to find self-expression self in ones one's daily daify w work rk A carriage maker for instance could g get t all the glow of creative work by seeing his product grow under his hands cant can't the simple reason that carriages arent aren't m de that way any more Craftsmanship is di disappearing appearing Ve We must turn to o our r spare time for our outlets of expression 1 i But there are possibilities of deep and enduring satisfaction for us ais We Ve can all in our evenings at home be artists or poets or orri ri or craftsmen Ve We may not be bevery bevery very ery good ones but that doesn't matter We Ye Yec c can n make our lives more significant and more enjoyable I I. I |