Janus, an original acrylic painting
24" X 36", on stretched canvas - unframed
( click on image to enlarge )
Janus was the Roman god of new beginnings, the two-faced god from whom nothing
could be concealed, and the god from which we derive the name for the first month of the year.
The sculpture below is one example of the ways the artists in ancient Rome depicted him.
In December, following the presidential election, as I was breathing a sigh of relief,
I began thinking of doing a posting about the two-faced god, for this month's entry.
The idea of having that kind of duality, of the ability to honestly, look back and chronicle
the past, while peering into the future at the same time, seemed like the kind of valuable
self-improvement resolution America should have for the new year of 2021. We had
fresh hope in the air, a new start, with an administration based on science and truth,
instead of a president who had politicized the plague, and installed a fascist regime in the
White House. The mad carnival seemed to be about to come to it's end.
And then, on January sixth, the fresh hope was met with reality. Trump, the loosing
and angry, narcissistic sociopath, rallied his moronic militias and white-supremacists,
and sent his goon squads to invade our nation's capitol and attack the members of
congress, to try and overthrow the election and make him a dictator.
So, once again we are faced with the flaws which seem to be inherent in a fairly
large percentage of the human species. Many of us tend to be egocentric and mindless
dolts, who will act on any stray impulse, without giving a thought as to whether it is
wise or a good idea. Many still continue to gather and party, during this pandemic,
while defiantly going unmasked, because they say it's their constitutional right to
be as stupid and inconsiderate of other people as they want to be. The human
carnival continues, as it has for several thousand years, and as it always will, until
we learn to change.
If we can only use the duel vision of Janus, we have our hindsight, to learn
from our history, and our foresight, to plan for a better world, in the future.
A good start would be a higher education policy, which would help every citizen
rise to the limits of his or her, full potential.
E. P. McNerney
