Some thoughts on Editing

Let me begin by saying that editing--in print at least--is a largely lost art to most Americans, and that this is a great tragedy that results in a lot of crap on the internet (and perhaps this blog is not exempted from this criticism).

How is it that we have missed the power of editing?

It seems to me that in an age of social media, editing ought to be more intuitive than at any other time in history, since we all engage in it whenever we manage our facebook profiles. We delete the bad photos, post the best ones, update about things that are interesting, or make us seem interesting, and generally try to make ourselves look awesome. We are making resumes of our coolness. Editing is an integral part of this process, although it occurs to me that maybe the editing process is only the accidental by-product of an insatiable pursuit of connection and acceptance from our cloud of peers--not something that occurs with any sort of thoughtful intention.

(I recently cleaned up and made some changes to my own profile, since I'm moving to a new city and will be applying for jobs and hopefully making new facebook friends, and real friends. I want the picture I present to be accurate, and slightly flattering. Who wouldn't?)

So this week my dad and I hauled something like 11,000 paintings from my grandmother's basement in Pittsburg, KS to my dad's basement in Overland Park, KS. Whatever you say about Norma, and whatever you think about the quality of her work, you must admit one thing.

She was prolific.

Most of her paintings were not done on canvas, although hundreds were on canvas. Most of the canvas ones have been given to various United Methodist Churches in Southeast Kansas. Or youth home facilities, or banks, or public buildings. I'd bet it's pretty difficult to walk into a city building in Pittsburg, KS without running into one of her paintings. A good chunk of the paintings are on 1/4" particle board. And thousands are on poster-board.

















A few of her paintings look like this.

How much would you pay for this?

Some of her paintings look like this.

This one's on foam presentation board. It's in the "Norma Bombing" pile.

I love my grandma. She was a painter. She was a grandma. She was a prayer warrior. She never really reconciled with her sister. She held grudges. She gave generously. She was a lousy cook. She spent the years after her husband died busying herself cooking for the AA groups at her church, painting, and teaching writing classes for other widows in her church. One of her old-lady friends published 3 books as a result.

We always edit when we conceive of a person in our minds, even with ourselves. It's impossible not to do. It's difficult to not let a first impression determine the entire course of a relationship.

 

At some point while packing all these pieces up, my dad quoted an artist friend:

"You have to make 1,000 crappy paintings before you make a good one. The trick is getting them out." 

I think there's some truth in that statement for almost anything in life. Writing. Song writing. Conversations with a person you care deeply about. Preaching. Praying for the sick. Wine making. Window washing. Programming. Kissing. Well, some people are just naturally gifted at some things. But one thing that separates really "good" artists from the mediocre is how well they edit. 

Back to kissing and conversations and prayer: some things you can't edit. You just have to take risks and muddle through if it doesn't go the way you want it to go. There's no way to pray for the sick and get a 100% success rate. (Although I dare say God has a different definition of "success" than we do.) A first kiss will always be awkward and a little scary--it's part of the fun right? Without honesty there are no hurt feelings, and no true communication.

The nice thing about editing is it allows us to cover up our mistakes. The dangerous thing is that we get addicted to the feeling of control it gives us. 

But sooner or later, somebody's going to go through and look at every painting you've ever painted and have an opinion.

Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them.  And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what they had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life. Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children. But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars —they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”--Revelation 20:11-21:8 NIV, emphasis mine.

No use playing it safe or trying to hide our true selves from God. Good news is he likes us, and is merciful, because of Jesus.

Maybe you can measure the depth and importance of a relationship by how much you edit (or are able to edit) yourself in that relationship.

Facebook profile = highly edited = shallow "friendship," they only see what you want them to see
Work/school colleagues = edited, for sake of "professionalism" = some degree of being known
Nuclear Family = less edited = pretty important relationships
Spouse of 30 years = not able to hide much = known by this person better than anyone else
God = He sees right through you = He knows ALL your crap, loves you deeply in spite of it

(Of course, just because a relationship is important, doesn't mean that it's healthy. That takes intention on both sides.)

Part of me wonders what my grandma would think of me putting her art up in public places. What sort of impression does it give people of my grandma? Would she be proud or upset?

I guess I'll find out later.