WINDOWS

Windows come in all kinds of shapes, sizes, materials, colors and functions. Some windows open from the top, some the bottom. Some open sided to side and some don’t open at all. Windows can be made from vinyl, wood, steel, aluminum and even brass. Some have only one pane of glass, some many.  Some glass panes are single ply; some are dual glazed for energy efficiency.  Some glass is clear, some frosted, some opaque, some tinted. Some are hand-made, some come from a big factory in China, and some are custom made in the USA. You get the drift; windows come with a lot of differences.

But just buying a window isn’t the end.  You still have to decide where you want a window and what its function will be.  Some windows primarily let in light, others circulate the air.  Some are just for decoration.

In a lot of ways, windows are like the people in our lives. Those people come in all shapes and sizes, colors, backgrounds, usefulness (and some not so much…) and make-up.

When I made these earrings, I was thinking about all of these things. But as I started making the earrings, I didn’t want them to be exact, perfect little windows because, let’s face it, life is never like that.  While each piece of each earring can stand on its own, joining two together makes a stronger statement.  When we stand together, even though we don’t look the same, or aren’t the same color or the same size, I think we make a stronger statement.

While each one of us is unique, I think we are stronger when we look past our differences and concentrate on where we are similar. In these earrings, there are a lot of differences; size, shapes, openings, but there are a lot of similarities too.  Colors repeat, basic shapes repeat, structure is the same, and in the end, they are all just windows. Maybe each piece in these earrings isn’t perfect. I don’t know about you, but I’m not either. In fact, none of my friends are either! But when you put them all together, the whole is greater than the parts.

And while each of us may have different colors and shapes and structures and backgrounds, in the end we’re all just humans trying to make sense out of life.  So I say, let’s look past our differences and strengthen our similarities.