Today I was thinking about how, in this physical world, decline and destruction is inevitable. Our sun will eventually burn out.
But not too long ago, I was walking through the parking lot of a large apartment complex when a rather delapidated vehicle caught my eye. The rusty bits - and gaping holes - were held together here and there with duct tape. Good rubber though! The truck was obviously in use as some kind of tradesperson’s ride. Perhaps it belonged to the contractor. There were all kinds of bits and pieces of construction materials in the back… electrical wire, plumbing pipes, screws, nails, tools and even a couple of shingles.
And cigarette butts. I used to smoke. You could always count on a cigarette to do exactly what it advertised it would do. It never let you down. Of course it was killing you little by little, but it did not let you down. There were never any ‘team issues’ with the cigarette.
But on the rear bumper right above the trailer hitch, there were carefully applied large letters spelling “Team Issues.” It made me laugh. I had to grab a photo.
I stumbled onto that photo this evening. I did a little research and found that “Team Issues” is a hot topic today. And I also found out that one of the major indicators of “Team Issues” is that ”too much time is spent on damage control” (thank you ”Thoughtfulleader.com”). Now this particular vehicle certainly did not have very much time or effort spent on damage control. Maybe the owner was acquainted with the concept of ‘entropy’ and knew it was futile to put up any kind of a fight anymore because of the current state of the truck. We all know that “rust never sleeps.’
Mirriam-Webster has a few ‘senses’ for defining ‘entropy’ but I think this one describes it best for this context:
“2a: the degradation of the matter and energy in the universe to an ultimate state of inert uniformity… Entropy is the general trend of the universe toward death and disorder.”
With respect to the vehicle itself, it was certainly heading in that direction. But in the clean, new “Team Issues” lettering on the bumper, we have evidence of a ‘still small voice crying in the wilderness.’
Just look at the application of the lettering. Large sans serif, bold, golden letters - straight line - decent kerning. Some effort was certainly expended here. This person knows the truck will die. But this person has a sense of humour and hope. It’s all about the people. There will always be “Team Issues.” So let’s all acknowledge that even though we are operating within a general context of ‘entropy,’ this should not prevent us from concentrating on fixing what we can fix in the here and now.
Studio Result
The best colour for today is a Liquitex Professional Heavy Body Acrylic - Indian Yellow. Sometimes I forget about concentrating on fixing what is in the here and now. And then the bright yellow sun, or bright yellow sunshiny letters remind me to just get back to work.