Moody Monday: Framing

Just to the left of my desk at home, is a painting of a Florida fishing harbor at sunset that I bought 35 years ago at a fundraising auction for public television, because I liked the frame it was in, and it sold for less than what the frame probably cost. My thought when I bought was that I would reuse the frame, but the painting grew on me.  Through a couple of moves, I have thought about parting with it, but it strikes a chord with me.  

Thinking about this, some of the things that bother us, upset us because of the frame - the surroundings they are in.  I wrote recently about a conference that we are planning for next spring in south Florida, and I got an email from an old friend saying there was no way she could attend because it was in Florida.  It is not the conference, she was complementary of the program and our efforts to keep it alive, it was the frame it is in. Anyplace but surrounded by Florida.   

Sometimes ugly content, in a nice frame is loved, despite the content.  Back in early 2015 I had a work trip that was 4.5 full days of training, in five days, in four different cities.  Most days were 12-14 hours, including a flight to the next venue at the end of they day, dinner and checking into another hotel.  It was a grueling schedule.  It was also in Hawaii. The frame, the surrounding paradise, offset the difficult content (I will never take on an agenda like that again.)    

Sometimes it is the content, sometimes it is the frame, sometimes it is both.  This fits into so much of life.  Think about the content, think about the frame.  The content is more important than the frame. As MLK said, "judge by the content of the character."