Everyday Canvas

My Hands –Action vs. Inaction--Months

Prompt: "Everything good, everything magical happens between the months of June and August." Jennifer Han What are your thoughts about this quote?

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I guess this quote was said by a person who liked summer better than the other seasons.

I really don’t know what to think of it. This is because each year is different. What is magical is what happens in any one month or season.

I’ve had wonderful things happen to me in the dead of the winter as well as in the middle of the summer. Thus, for me, it is the goods a life brings, not on which month it brings them.

Prompt: Is inaction a form of action? What do you think of inaction or rather giving up? Can it sometimes work? Can anyone be blamed for inaction in real life or in history?

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Whether we regret an action we wish we hadn’t done or we regret the inaction when something needed to be done, action and inaction are the two faces of a coin.

The ethics of this is questionable for it seems like only a person’s actions should matter for ethical considerations, not the things they didn’t do. If I do something bad, I am to blame, but if I see a thief in the store and fail to stop him, no one blames me, although I would blame myself. Then, there’s that thought that what if I tried to intervene and i the process made things worse?

There are incidents in law such as violence to children, however, that puts me on the spot if I fail to report the incident or take some kind of an action. I guess our civilization has begun modifying its principles for the better. Maybe, we’ll become a fully civilized species when we make being a good Samaritan the norm, instead of applauding such actions that are few and far in between.

When I was very young and spoke up for others, I was reprimanded for being a wise Alec. What a way to stop children from becoming responsible citizens!

From where I stand, I will always applaud positive actions no matter their result.

Prompt: Look at your hands. What do they mean to you? What is the meaning or emotion hiding in each line, blemish, wrinkle, scar, or the lack of those things if you have perfect hands?

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I think hands are so useful and I am very thankful for mine. On the other hand, we are not the only species with hands. Some other primates, like chimpanzees and lemurs, also have hands with fingers.

My hands, at this moment are clean because I washed them just a minute ago. In fact, I wash them all the time because I use them all the time. Aside from being clean, my nails and cuticles are trimmed, but my nails are without nail polish, only because I wash them so often. Up to several years ago, I used to use clear polish on them but that became such a hassle since I hated it when the polish began to peel off. I also dislike polish removers.

My fingers show my age. They have more wrinkles than my face; moreover, at their joints I have the beginnings of arthritis. At the moment, on the joint just under the nail of the thumb on my right hand, there is a slight cut about 1/10th of an inch long that looks red. For the life of me, I don’t know how I got that. I don’t recall stabbing or nicking myself. Its redness may be because of the blood thinner I’m on since that cut doesn’t hurt at all.

The same thumb I burned a few decades ago when I saved the house from burning. For quite some time, its cuticle and nail stayed deformed, but during the last decade or so, it healed on its own. Then, on the top of my left hand, I poured boiling water by mistake. Its whole top skin turned brownish black, but when it healed, my skin recuperated and it was even smoother than my right hand. So now, whenever I pour boiling water from the kettle, I put my left hand behind my back. I guess I can now say I’ve had a few trials by fire.