We are put here to blossom, to sing

James Andriulaitis was among the Belong Ottawa artists sharing his work—poetry and photography—at the Ottawa Public Library art exhibit. This is an excerpt from his remarks at the event:

I wish the goal of this to be the lifting up and acknowledgment of people who all too often have fallen victim to the very identities “assigned” to them. What do I mean by this? Well, I’m talking about people who usually are not allowed to make a contribution to society….What I mean is the all too present problem of people’s worth being judged on their labels, the identity tags we slap on people every day of their lives. We judge people based on their most noticeable, or salient, characteristics. This is a short cut, a heuristic we employ all the time, for speed and efficiency. Unfortunately, however, its accuracy is extremely unreliable at best, and flat-out dead wrong at worst. For our most salient characteristics are rarely, if ever, our most important ones.

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Think about it for a second. If you saw someone with a bad haircut, looking dishevelled with dirty clothes, and acting weird, would the first thought that came to your mind, or even the second or third, or umpteenth, be, ‘Hmmm, I wonder, could this person be a gifted piano player? Or artist? Or poet? Or anything thought distinguished, wonderful or “worthy”? My guess is no. That’s just what we do. And the way we think has effects, effects that are far-reaching.

So, I’d like to think that we have a chance here, an opportunity to put aside our prejudices and limiting mindsets, to allow ourselves to judge not only artistic creations, which often speak for themselves, but even more importantly ideas, based solely on the merit of the idea itself, and not on the social status, appearance, fashion sense or popularity of the idea’s creator.

I know this is hard. It is very easy to say but to implement? Not so much. The only thing I can say is that we have the opportunity to do so, both here and in the society as a whole. Too often people end up getting marginalized, getting pushed to the fringes of society. Too often we forget that for everyone, life should be about more than just eating, more than just getting the basic essentials of survival. [American psychologist Abraham] Maslow knew it—and so do I. We’re not put on this beautiful earth simply to mark time, simply to get through another meaningless day. We were put here to bloom—to blossom—to sing. Kudos to anyone who in any way helps make this possible for another. You are great—and you are blessed.

James Andriulaitis is an Ottawa-based poet.

There’s an added beauty

There’s an added beauty in flower, herb or tree,

that grows where it isn’t “supposed” to be —

a resistor to small-minded norm uniformity,

a rebel against the well-worn default conformity;

an outlier, a maverick, a defier of convention,

nature’s stand against man’s interference, man’s intervention.

Pansies flowering between cobblestones,

In lone stance displaying their vibrant tones;

Siberian elms growing from cracks in cement,

and in their expansion, pushing aside, buckling the pavement:

or in spring, Monarch’s soul food or other things thought weeds,

bursting through asphalt in a fresh vital vigour of green.

Manitoba, Ashleaf Maples enveloping chain-link fences,

mismanaged and thought the weed of trees,

they still have their defences;

Rock Elms rocking out between stones and concrete—

Though I’ve given you examples, it’s far from complete.

Even the moss I find engrossingly sublime,

and, with the lichens, are markers of “slow time.”

And, lest I forget, my most favourite of all,

sunflowers, sprouting from curbs, or between

sidewalk and beginning of bridge over river that I know

is certainly a sight to value, and for me does enthrall,

when in final flower they make their lovely show.

There’s an added beauty in flower, herb or tree,

that grows where it isn’t “supposed” to be,

that grows where it “doesn’t belong” —

It’s the power of life, growing free —

the power to sing its own song.

— James Andriulaitis

james [email protected]

 Related story:  Library art exhibit showcases Belong Ottawa artists’ talent