The Soloist

After the IRS cleaned out my clock this past April 15th, I felt it best to get back to working on the hard task of making myself better by tackling the crafting project I've had such a challenging time facing: a memory scrapbook about my Mom.

I went to the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore, MD to get inspired through the Rita Project, a great program that brings together in a creative healing space people who have attempted suicide and survivors of loss to suicide. Turns out the day's group meeting had been canceled. But this cancellation turned out to be a blessing in disguise. I came across the most interesting life story of James Rouse (1914-1996), Master Planner of Inner Harbor in Baltimore, MD, as well as founder of Columbia, MD. It seems he was a man that truly walked into his vision of how life should be.

I left the museum refreshed and invigorated, filled with the wisdom of Rouse's inspiringing life story. Life had not always been kind to him, but his optimism, vision and willingness to maintain creative friendships were his anchor. I reached out to good visionary friends who lived in Columbia, MD and share what I had learned, paying it forward.

We decided to go to the movies and go see The Soloist, the true story of a friendship between a renown journalist, Steve Lopez, and a former cellist then homeless man, Nathaniel Ayers. It's a sobering movie that speaks truth to the issues of mental illness, homelessness, recovery, and redemption.

Ayers was a Julliard student who rather than combat his illness, he embraced it. The cost was life on the streets. But I wonder, if he could have understood, really understood, what was happening and the potential consequences of his actions, the deterioration to his mind, career, and future, if he would have acted the same way.

Yet, I'm not fully convinced. Jim Rouse said it best, "I am philosophically, spiritually, and emotionally persuaded that virtually every circumstance, however adverse or bewildering it seems to be at the moment, has a creative potential, that my task is to find that potential--to avoid preoccupation with immediate unfavorable impact and move beyond to the lesson or direction or opportunity that the Lord has opened up." Go figure that Steve Lopez always says that he is the one that got the most out of the relationship. Maybe, this was all God's plan to give Steve Lopez a hand.

The Afterw@rd