Early Light
Painting and Story by Lehan Winifred Ramsay
This was the problem that the orphanage asked me to to find a solution for.
The orphanage didn’t have much money, relied on volunteers. The kids got a basic education at the orphanage, a pretty old-fashioned one. I think they had one teacher and they had classes five days a week. At the age of 15 they had to leave there.
Some of the kids got adopted, mainly by French couples. For the others the orphanage tried to give them some basic training of some kind and to get them a job.
But no matter what job a child got, it was a hard job with little pay and many hours of labour, and the kids gave up quickly and ran away.
They ended up on the street and things didn’t go well for them. The orphanage wondered if there was something that could be taught about personal responsibility. And something that could motivate them.
That was in 2005. I’ve been thinking about that for eight years now. Maybe they’ve found a solution, or maybe they’ve forgotten the problem. Anyway, so far I haven’t been able to think of anything.
Window Dresser's Arms, Pig & Whistle 
In my logic, I jumped over tall buildings, leaped over forests and soared over mountains to make this statement:
Most of you know by now that I am an atheist. But then sometimes I think to myself, – when something touches my heart such as Lehan’s story – and I say, “I wish there was God and I wish there was Hell.”
There is no justice on this Planet.
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(Music is by Ernesto Cortazar and is called ‘Beethoven’s Silence’)
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That is a lovely piece of music hph, I haven’t heard it before. So if there was a god and a hell, what do you think they should do in this instance, with the orphanage’s problem?
Though you should probably think about it for a while, as this story continues in more instalments, in Therese time.
I am imagining though: a movie-like scene, in which we take the orphanage only this piece of music, and the listening children are transfixed, totally transformed by it. Wouldn’t that be grand? I wish the world was more like that that sometimes.
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I love the production of this recording.
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Stunning art work. Liberating. Expanding. Riveting. You get better and better at your exploration of art as your story teller. I am emotionally uplifted and recharged by this piece. It excites my imagination to know someone’s work passably well and thus learn from it. Thank you Lehan.
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Hi Shoe. That is very nice of you, thankyou. I like this painting a lot. I would open my eyes on these freezing February mornings and that view would be just looming there being eminent, it was a bit intimidating. How is the lotus pond, is it communing nicely with you?
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The lotus pond is a flashing gem of colour definitions and portraiture. I want to return it to you one day and find myself grieving its transience. I am crazy I will swear. It has a beauty that is a crying tear in my throat it is so beautiful and as well is how I know I am as sane as I will ever be.
I am indebted to you for the explosion of flight and colour energy it has brought with it into my home. I will photograph it one day for your consideration. It must be titled The Lotus Pond I feel surely. My love for this is deep.
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Maybe all those orphans needed was just a little love to survive..?
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Ah, Helvi, I so wanted to take home the one with no toes; so cute.
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Lehan, I don’t know how things are done in Japan, you said there was only one teacher. How many other people worked there, how many orphans…? Maybe if there were few, warm hearted people there just to love and cuddle them, maybe more would have survived. Just speculating as I don’t know the circumstances
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Hi Helvi. It was Vietnam, and I couldn’t really say about the amount of love and cuddles they got, as I only visited briefly. It’s a good point.
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