Picture Frames
Picture Frames
I thought I was running a race. The race of life. I don’t think I was competing with anyone. They say anything is possible and if you really want something, you can push hard and run for it. I was running hard toward a University degree. But I wasn’t sure if I was headed the right direction, like running a race on a track and not sure if I was facing the right way or if the path was the right one. I almost felt rushed that I had to decide my whole life right now.
I’m thinking about picture frames. Obviously you put pictures in picture frames and they usually can provoke thoughts and emotions out of anyone. A family portrait will always bring memories for those in it. Maybe memories of the studio in which the photo was taken. It could be memories of the sobbing child in the room who didn’t like the bright lights or didn’t like their mother trying to comb through their curly hair. Or maybe the photographer still had a piece of lunch in her teeth which was the real reason that everyone smiled so big for the picture. Picture frames can contain anything from: Family portraits, grad photos, vacations, weddings, or just scenery that’s pleasant to look at. But for someone who is of no relation to those in the photo or don’t even know or recognize those in it the photos are worthless, worth only the frame. Scenery can be appreciated by most or maybe the idea of a family portrait can make a person reflect on their own family’s portrait memory. Though in the end there is just a blank frame that isn’t worth anything.
But what about a blank picture frame, can it provoke just as much thought. What can a bunch of empty picture frames really mean, if anything? Is it modern art or just an empty picture frame? I think an empty picture frame can say something about life. Lives change, life changes, there are new people in new generations with new ideas and new technology. But a blank picture frame will remain, and will readily contain anything its master chooses to put into it. Ultimately the picture frame will someday be empty again and passed to a new owner to contain new photos which always will have a story behind them. So why not just leave a picture frame blank to begin with? It really represents life more accurately, just a frame. Life is a frame, how do we fill it, what do we remember, how will we be remembered who will read our story? At the end of life we do leave memories in the minds of people and we also leave photos for people to look at. But eventually the memories will fade or pass away, and then what we are is just a photo in a frame. Then that frame will be sold at a yard sale and a new picture will take the place of the old and memories are gone forever. But the frame remains. Think about it for a moment just a blank frame, a black background with a wooden frame surrounding it. The frame is life—how will you fill it?