All is Vanity... and ... Some is Gossip....

Just thought I would share with you a couple of my favorite prints...

I first caught site of these charming images in the window of a quirky little shop in Ann Arbor...( I know.. a quirky shop in Ann Arbor?...... what a shock !) The first one is called "Gossip and Satan came also" by George A Wotherspoon.
Where two women are gossiping.... The devil is not far away.

Hmmmm Interesting No?????

My other FAVORITE... is "All is Vanity" By Charles Allan Gilbert

This scene of a woman putting on makeup in front of a mirror,It looks like a skull from a distance.

The title has two meanings : vanity is the name of a dressing table with a mirror, it also means excessive pride in appearance.

The message behind the image is : Don't worry too much about material things and Beauty. We'll all be dead in the end.

I mean come on... Don't you just love it!!!!

Not just because these were done at the turn of the century which is way way cool.. but because the messages are just as pertinent today...

Gossip I am guilty of it... You're guilty of it..... We are ALL guilty of it..

Why do we feel the need to discuss and prattle on about others and the events ...( Usually bad) that are unfolding in their lives?

Ugh.. NOT COOL !!!

So ... why do we do it??

Probably in an effort to make us feel better about ourselves...

To divert the attention away from all the crazy nonsense that we have going on in OUR lives...

You know.... the things we would just be mortified to have whispered about.

Sometimes I like to do "Positive Gossip" I know it sounds like an oxymoron ... but hear me out...

SOMETIMES.. I like to whisper about GOOD things I observe...

It kinda disarms people when you saddle up to them and say...

"Hey.. did you hear that ------ is really such a nice person and they did XYZ"

You can almost hear the air coming out of the their balloon.... When what you have to say is positive and not negative.. almost Ho Hum......

Most people only want to hear about the juicy stuff.. it's like that line from Steel Magnolias where Olympia Dukakis's character Clairee Belcher..says to Dolly Parton's Truvy Jones..

" Mamma always said... If you can't say anything nice about somebody... come sit by me"

Ladies I am afraid we are notorious for this behavior... although I will say.. I have heard a fair amount of trash talk from the guys as well...

I am afraid however. we are...... just a Tad better at it...

Vanity

Another topic that well... Let's face it ( No Pun intended)... We just don't deal with very well...EVERYWHERE you look there are messages about maintaining your youth and beauty..

We have become a nation that is obsessed with Youth ... Beauty ... and how to cling to it right down to the very last needle injected drop.

The kicker is...

It's ALL about maintaining your youth and beauty on the outside...

Not much is said about how important it is to reflect the Youth and Beauty you have on the inside ...

Regardless of what the outside may look like...Basically we are all going to lose our fresh faces .. and the numbers will always go up ...not down...

NO ONE..... is exempt..

Not Liz

Not Sophia

Not Madonna

Not Even relatively young.... Lindsey

No One !!!!
So maybe ... just maybe... we could be MORE concerned about the effect of what our words have on others.. how HURTFUL or HELPFUL our words about others can be.....and we could be a little LESS concerned about the OUTSIDE beauty... focusing ... more on the INSIDE beauty..

*Besides I heard it through the grapevine that gossip makes you look a lot older and uglier than you really are...

Hope your Weekend is Great !!!