Success and Failure

                                                       Chiura Obata, Japanese painter

Why do we do what we do? The choices we make, what drives us to them? Well, the answers to those questions are as individual as we are and the times they've been addressed are equally infinite in number. I think the why and the choices, although important, are not as vital as the fact that we try.

I am talking about the entities known as success and failure. Both are driving forces in our culture. They move us and they have the power to destroy, but only if we let them.

A story ...

Chiura Obata, a Japanese immigrant and painter, arrived in the US in 1903, intending to stay only a short while before moving on to Paris to study his art. As a young man he was a domestic servant and he was one of the co-founders of the first Japanese-American baseball teams on the mainland. In 1927, he visited Yosemite National Park and he was so moved by the beauty of the land, and by the stillness he found there, he remained for two months, traveling and painting what he called "great nature". His exhibitions brought great joy and "new eyes" to Americans. Seeing this great national treasure through his efforts was inspirational and healing to many people. He became an illustrator and commercial decorator. Eventually, he became a faculty member in the Art Department at the University of California at Berkeley. But his work was interrupted by WWII, and he was forced to spend well over a year in internment camps for the Japanese. He created an art school within the camps and when he was transferred to the Topaz War Relocation Center in Utah, he became the Founder and Director of the Topaz Art School which had 16 artist/instructors who taught 23 subjects to their students. Post-war, he contiued to exhibit and for many summers, he returned to his beloved Yosemite with his wife - also an artist - to teach art and talk about art in nature.

I tell Mr. Obata's story because of his approach to his life's work.

Success and failure. Mr. Obata had equal opportunity for both. I was not aware of his work until I recently watched The National Parks: America's Best Idea on PBS. Five minutes of the episode on Yosemite highlights his work there. Simple, colorful, inspired - I was drawn in, just like those who experienced it at the time it was painted. But it was the man's reason for making the choices he did - we're back to the why and the choices - that caused me to share these thoughts.

"Success or failure is not my aim in life. Whether I be a flake of snow or only a drop of dew, I do not care. I wish only to paint with gratitude to nature in my heart, and with sincerity in my brush. This is my future. This is my biography. Chiura Obata 

I do not know the angst he suffered. I was not with him when he met fear and doubt, anger and injustice. But I am inspired by his idea of not having success as the goal. I smile when I think about there being no such thing as failure. Removing the unspoken onus attached to them is like clearing a path to my joy and I am unburdened.

Our society grows things backwards. Despite itself, there is brilliance and innovation and beauty and humor and joy. When we meet a boulder bigger than our mind's capacity for strength to move it, if we can recall the thought that success or failure is not the point, it becomes a pebble on the path, respected for its part in building a good life.

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Pssst ... Mr. Obata was prolific! I've included a few extra images below. One of my favorites was a postcard he sent to one of his children that reads: "The lovely moon is gone. It went to bed early to sleep. Grow big and shine more!"