Last week was about blind driving and ignorance.  This week is about painting and canvases.  Stick with me for a second, because we are about to dive kind of deep. 

Look at the image above.  There is something on the easel.  What is it?  I’d say that it’s a blank canvas.  What exactly is a blank canvas?  It’s a canvas that doesn’t have anything on it yet.  If a blank canvas is a canvas without anything on it, can that thing on the easel really be a blank canvas?  I’m not sure it is.  The canvas is white, so there is already a background color, meaning the canvas already has something on it and isn’t blank.  The color of the canvas has its own unique properties, influencing how you would have to paint it.  Painting on a white canvas would be different than painting on a red, blue, green, or black canvas.    

What does this have to do with anything?  I see a connection at the macro level and at the more personal level.  At the macro level, when I was younger, I believed that we all had the same exact opportunities, because we all started with the same blank canvas.  Over the years, I’ve realized the canvas of our society isn’t blank.  Instead, there is already stuff on the canvas that we are making our mark on, and what is already on that canvas impacts the ability to paint on it.  Our canvas is comprised of our history, social norms, and laws, which have all been substantially shaped by straight white men.  This backdrop becomes the canvas we start with and has a huge impact on the way we think about race, gender, sexual orientation, and other areas.  The question really becomes whether or not we grasp how the canvas built by the past impacts our current conversations and situations.

At the more personal level, relationships are about making your mark on another person.  With this in mind, no one is a blank canvas.  Everyone has their own canvas filled with their history and experiences that shapes who they are and how they interact in relationships.  The more I can do to show I want to understand them, what makes them tick, and the things that shape their canvas, the more likely they are to open up and share parts of themselves.  We can then use this understanding to connect better.

The challenge: What is already on the “blank” canvas?  How is it shaping you?  How is it shaping our present? 

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry