Artwork: Every Tear Creates A Pearl

Every Tear Creates A Pearl - Toni Youngblood, acrylic paint, wax frisket  2009

Platitudes abound regarding the concept that one can find the positive in, or benefit from painful events and experience growth.  "What doesn't kill me, makes me stronger."  "No pain, no gain."  "Every cloud has a silver lining."  My own, "Every tear creates a pearl", developed from something my sister-in-law (22 years my senior) told me and my niece (her daughter) when we were quite young.  My niece asked her mom, "Where do pearls come from?".  My sis-in-law proceeded to say that, "They come from inside oysters.  When a little piece of trash lands inside the oyster, it creates an irritation to the animal.  The oyster then works with it by covering it over with layers and layers of material that, over time become the pearl."  My mind/heart borrowed from her explanation and evolved a metaphor for creating something beautiful from experiences over time, which at first are unwanted and painful.  There are times when I need to remember that what is hurting now may be the birth of something beautiful in my psyche.