HomelinksArt Car Kidssitemap
GiftshopArt Car PicturesArt Car EventsMaking an Art Car
billboard ad for video
You are here: Home --> Pictures --> Art Car Index --> Hope Springs Eternal Home Page
spacer spacer
Hope photo
spacer
"Hope Springs Eternal" began in response to the flood of hopelessness I witness in my work, the media, in friends and family as they struggle with the relentless unpredictability of what a friend calls "the life monster." It seems so easy to forget about the things that keep us going when we are flooded with despair. Poverty, injustice, environmental deterioration, violence, and the subtle and not-so-subtle erosion of diversity and "soul" in our daily lives: these things make me grim, keep me up at night, keep me looking for ways I am accountable for change - as they should.
spacer
But, in order to keep going, we need joy, silliness, beauty, surprise. Signs of hope emerge before us daily, but we forget to look for them. I decided that if I drove around surrounded by these signs,
I might remember them more often. Thich Nhat Han, a Vietnamese Buddhist monk, talks about using tools from everyday life to remind us to be mindful of the precious moment. In his book, Being Peace, he suggests that the telephone ringing can be a call to mindfulness. We can say to ourselves at that moment, "the phone is ringing and
I am alive and can be calm in this moment." I like to think that my car can do that for people - be a giant ringing moving colorful "telephone ringing."
spacer
And people answer! Driving this car every day has changed my encounters with people. Where I used to be suspicious of strangers,
I now find moments of genuine smiling contact.
spacer
hope at the ball
spacer
I come out of the grocery store and there are 5 or 6 people standing around the car talking about hope. My 92 year old grandmother loves it when I pick her up at the nursing home in it - the car once got a standing ovation from all the old folks on the front porch.
spacer
And of course, it's just a lot of fun. It seems like a little subversion of the status quo. You're really not supposed to drill holes in your car - but it feels great! I wrote a poem about women and power tools...
spacer
So, I invite you to take a minute to remember signs of hope given to you - by nature, by mentors, spiritual teachers, through danger and risk, your own body, the cycles of family life and the natural rhythms of healing, the turn of the wheel of years, the planting, growing, harvest and resting. What gives you hope? And what do you feel when you notice it's absence? And how do you discover it again?
spacer
Send me email at pandorajune@yahoo.com send poetry, notes, favorite quotes, drawings, etc. We will assemble them here so they can be shared.
spacer
One caution - while many people find hope in their religion, this is not a religious forum. Please be respectful of our amazing spiritual diversity.
spacer

Poems of Hope

More Poems of Hope

spacer
-- www.artcars.com -- Cool Links -- Art Cars for Kids -- Site Map --
Giftshop -- Art Car Pictures -- Art Car Events -- Making Art Cars
spacer
Unless otherwise noted, all images are copyrighted by the artists and/or
by Pineapple Publishing and Consulting
Art Cars in Cyberspace ©2004 Pineapple Publishing and Consulting
Contact us at artcars@artcars.com
spacer
Last update April 1, 2004
spacer