One of my superpowers is being able to see something in a shop that I am really attracted to, and not buy it. Then I get home and am filled with regrets. Of course, when I return, the special object has been purchased by a more discriminating shopper. Am I the only one who does this?
This happened recently when I paused outside a gift shop to admire three little birds. They were fantails, all perfectly white and with cheeky wee faces, depicting the age-old mantra of ‘see no evil, say no evil, speak no evil’. Their cute wings covered the appropriate place – eyes, ears, mouth (beak actually). They would have been a perfect reminder of the futility of pretending unpleasant things don’t happen.
When I was young my maternal grandfather had a set of three brass monkeys who depicted this and he was the first to explain their message to me. I don’t know what happened to that tiny set, perhaps gone to another family member?
Now I shall just have to keep my eyes open for another set. It’s interesting that I’ve been thinking of these images as I’ve recently learnt that I have a few issues with my own eyes and ears. I don’t know what the future holds, but I hope it will be a long time before I see or hear nothing – let alone evil.
Sadly, there is much evil in the world and I believe it to be true that once you’ve been made aware of injustice, lies or deceit, then it’s impossible to unknow it. To deny what you know to be truth, is to slowly and incrementally also destroy that pure part of your spirit.
Online recently, I saw another version of the monkeys; this one had four of the little creatures and made reference to the legacy media, saying; see no truth, say no truth, speak no truth, and the fourth monkey was titled – ignore the truth. Sometimes the disparity between what I learn from on-the-ground sources and what is presented each night at six pm suggest this could be the case for many media outlets.
I’ve asked around my friends and two have kindly allowed me to include these photos of super cute owls and a family of monkeys. I love that the monkeys have a mum – I think it’s a mum – looking on at her brood with pride. The one on the far left refers to ‘do no evil’, while the little one next to mum appears to be ignoring the lesson – as we all do at times.
Thank you to Katrina for the owls, and Debby Armstrong for the monkeys.
First published on Nana’s Blogs from the Beach 21 July 2023.
