Everyday Canvas

Positive Influences and Clowns

Prompt: Have you built a positive circle of influence for yourself to get you through good and bad times? What or who, if it is a person, is in that circle, and can you describe those things, elements, or people?

=====

My circle of influence took its roots from my extended family on my mother’s side. Even though any of those adults who shaped me is not alive today, their words and teachings lead me on. I think I have internalized their ways and behavior to the degree that I can use them to help me throughout my life.

Then, there are people, friends or acquaintances and even those who I meet on the street, in the supermarket or the library, or wherever I end up. Since I love people in general, just talking to someone face-to-face even about trivial matters lifts me up. I guess it is because I value human beings a lot, whether I know them well or not.

In addition, literature and all arts have the means to get me through anything. Reading and writing have been a haven for me at any time, and there are some saintly authors in literature whose words are like balm for my soul.

Still added to that, I take refuge in nature, in its minute operations, on land or sea, and in its plants and animals. Anytime I take a walk in a natural environment such as the beach or the woods or even on a city street, I come home feeling restored and happier.

Prompt: What do you think the latest clown sightings are about and why do the clowns creep us out?

=====

I am wondering if Stephen King led the way for these clown sightings and this distrust of clowns, however unknowingly, which became so deeply entrenched in the public mind that it led the rejects of society like crooks and criminals to engage in using the clown persona for their dirty deeds. Yet, as much as this might be the possibility, blaming anyone’s book for such a fad is uncalled for, and writers’ imaginations should not be held back from creating.

I guess the professional clowns hate this latest craze the most, and who could blame them? And were Shakespeare’s plays also slapped on the face with the latest scare? Possibly. Puck, King Lear’s Fool, Yorick and their likes must be forced to wear readjusted costumes on stage, now.

Shaking this stigma off won’t be easy. After all, most of us hired a clown for our children’s parties way back when, and a clown in the circus is a happy face even when his/her makeup shows a sad clown. It isn’t fair to have one’s livelihood badmouthed and slapped with a scary, terrible reputation. It isn’t fair when all actors agree that doing comedy is much harder than doing drama. In this case, however, funny is not funny anymore.