At one point, we all had similar boxes of crayons and we all colored our own simple pictures.
Now that we’re older and some of us have better, newer, cooler boxes of crayons AND bigger, prettier and more fulfilling pictures to color, we find ourselves comparing crayons, pictures and levels of completeness.
That’s all natural, I’m sure. Though why we feel the need to be “finished” faster or slower than anyone else is beyond me… there’s no prize at the end of the picture, because there will always be another picture to complete. I guess the ultimate prize is always “You’re never finished! You can always start afresh!”
If starting afresh was in and of itself enough… well, then other people wouldn’t feel the need to lean over, comparing their green grass to my blue sky, their red house to my white one. Sure, I lean over too, sometimes wishing I could get that shade of orange in my sunset, or that my picture still contained that solid, fatherly figure in the background of so many pictures around me.
Finishing your picture in a bubble wouldn’t be rewarding either - there wouldn’t be anyone to be excited when you finished that winding creek, nor would anyone notice that your picture lost some important color and consisted of more shadows.
It’s a fine balance… not envying someone’s Shocking Pink, yet admiring their beautifully shaded meadow. Being happy for but not jealous of someone’s stunning artwork is a sign of growth and maturity.
But at this time… a small part of me would just like to lean lower in my seat, cover my paper with my arm and work on my picture all by myself for a little while…
Maybe after snack time I’ll want to share.
