Caution: Objects in Mirror.....

I saw this little inspirational piece when I was searching for an image recently. I saved it because it struck me with its image and message.

I'm always interested in images that include people when it comes to choice of sex and conveying a message. In the present case, this scene wouldn't work nearly as well with a man. On the other hand, I would argue it works so very well in the present case because we know, expect, believe, that women so often are victims and so often get stuck. And, too, the woman above is most probably in her twenties, early thirties at best, and not in her fifties. Again, our perception is of those crossroads appearing earlier in life, not later.

I don't particularly like any of that. Accurate or not, classifying and stereotyping based on sex makes about as much sense as doing the same based on religion or color. But that's not what bugs me the most.

Maybe I'm alone in this, but, when I read that message the undercurrent to me is not choice or empowerment but gratification. I read this and I have to think back on all the times in my life when I stuck with something that didn't particularly make me happy but I did so because it was taking me somewhere. Likewise, I read this and I have to wonder: How does one know? How does one, especially one with limited knowledge of the world, of where they're going, of what lies ahead, how does such a person know that something no longer has value?  And finally, why does something necessarily have to serve you?

It is important to keep your eyes and ears open, your wits about you. If something hurts, if something harms, if in your heart you're just not right with it, then you probably do need to move on. Certainly far too many people stay well after they should have figured out something was wrong. In that I think mostly of relationships. But others give up simply because it's "no fun," it requires too much work, it interferes with their social life. Knowing the difference-- difficult versus dangerous-- is everything.

At it's core I'm willing to sign on and put the poster on my wall but only with the following caveats: "Caution. Things may not always be as they appear. Sometimes a bitter pill brings remarkable healing. Look both ways before crossing."

Yeah, I could maybe hang that one up. But I'd have to take the woman out of the picture.