Perceptions

800 Miles to Long Beach © 2007 Karen Mathison Schmidt
36 x 18 • acrylic on cradled gessobord
Gloss varnish for protection and ease of cleaning
This painting will be available for sale during my show at the
LSU Medical Library in Shreveport, November 13 - December 31, 2007



This morning while walking the dogs, I stopped to pick up an empty beer can someone had tossed out on the side of the road. This isn't the first time I've had the privilege of picking up some anonymous motorist’s trash; in fact, we’re thinking about putting up one of those little signs, “This section of Yearwood Road adopted by the Schmidt Family.”

Anyway, as I was walking along carrying the empty can, one of our neighbors down the road came driving by on her way to work and I waved good morning with the hand holding the can, because I had Trixie’s leash in my other hand. She smiled and waved, and as her car disappeared around a bend in the road it suddenly occurred to me that it might look like I had just had a Bud Light for breakfast. Hmmm.

Then I thought, I wonder how many times I’ve jumped to a wrong conclusion about someone based on my false perception? Maybe (hopefully) next time I’m tempted to form a hasty impression I’ll flash on a picture of myself walking down the road with a beer can in my hand!

I was kind of relieved when I came across two more cans a little further up the road. A 50-year-old woman walking a dog and carrying an empty beer can may have just had a brewski for breakfast, but a 50-year-old woman walking a dog and carrying three empty beer cans is definitely just doing her part to help keep the roadside clean!

Happy weekend, everyone!