8/5/25

Majestic, the egret sits quietly waiting for the right moment to strike for a tasty fish. 

Instinct preserves life…

3 children aged 13, 9, and 8 glumly walk behind their parents, all three  drenched in Virginia summer sweat …a rural farm auction.

Suddenly ahead a marvel to see…a 1950’s vintage pinball machine in dire straits of repair. 

The three of us rush forwarded to gawk. My father approaches. The thirteen year old blurts out “I can fix it dad, can we buy it?” 25$…a lot of money to my parents then…

He laughs at my suggestion, scoffs at the idea that I could fix it,  and starts to walk on. The 8 year old, my sister, turns to him and with great authority says “If he says he can fix it I know he can”. 

Such Faith from the mouthes of babes. 

My father looks at his three ragamuffins and nods his head…a rare yes.

That night the pinball machine is open and the three of  us behold a true rats nest…a few mummified babies next to the main electric coil. 

Slowly I clean it out and study the wiring to realize it is nothing more than a series of electromagnetic coils triggered by a bouncing steel ball up top. 48 hours later …it is cleaned, rewired it is in perfect working order… its a week before we three can play it as my father has assumed it is his…

Looking back, my most precious memory is that of my sister standing there proclaiming total faith in my abilities to fix this machine I knew nothing about.

The power of Faith of a child is never to be underestimated.

Years later , having lived “ outside the box” all my life,  so many times I was told that I would never succeed at various endeavors…college, medical school, post graduate trainings, academic medicine, music school and finally art… 

 None of these endeavors were easy and I struggled through each to success recalling the Faith of a 8 year old sister in her brother. 

I find myself now at a transition in life.

As I  turn away from practicing medicine to  concentrating on art I question whether or not I have really succeeded at anything over the past 40 years. Old doubts surface and plague my soul … now  creeping into the quality and value of my paintings. 

I know the source of this doubt, a scoffing father and a mother who only twice in my life expressed satisfaction towards my accomplishments…yet I know given their backgrounds they did the best they could raising children. 

Recently another young girl spontaneously expressed faith in my abilities. After taking a picture of an egret in  Florida she exclaimed “ I know he can paint this!” 

So in thanks for her faith in me I did … 

The Faith of children is so pure, so instinctual whereas the faith of adults may be well meant but there seems always background noise as to the nature of their faith…from love, a need to support someone, flattery, ,PR, manipulation…whatever. Although that  faith is valuable, the pure Faith of a child is priceless…

As I age I come to recognize the tremendous value of being around children.

 

It is wise to learn from them…

We could all benefit from the luck of finding a child who shares unconditional Faith…

PS. Sometimes we have to reach deep down to find faith in ourselves. After a year of injuries I am going to ride again in September from Pittsburgh to DC, and if all goes well longer rides are planned in 2026. Keep your fingers crossed for me…more stories and pictures to come. 

I’ve warned Angel and Flossie to get in shape…

PPS; a Freebie…