The Picture of Clay with the Child from Uganda
6/29/05
by Diane Sprague
Pictures of Clay communicate so much to us. The ones where he is singing communicate joy as his beautiful face lightens up the screen. The ones where he is posing before the camera always communicate his comfort with who he is and his confidence. The ones where he is speaking to Congress inspire us to think bigger thoughts and reach for higher goals. Some pictures waken our imaginations; others make us laugh. The pictures of Clay with children always seem to portray his gentle sweetness and love. All the pictures are wonderful, but this last one is especially eloquent in all that it has to say about who Clay is and why we find ourselves paying so much attention.
One of the first thoughts that struck me when I saw this picture was that if someone had shown me this a few years ago is that I would have noticed the cute child and then tossed it aside. I would not have seen the man. I would never have imagined that this man was utterly adored by countless women including myself. He would have looked so ordinary. I love that fact. I love how the ordinary became extraordinary. It is fascinating to see how we see so much beauty because we now see past what we would have ignored.
I love his hands. His long fingers are wonderful. It is so beautiful how they cradle the child. They look so strong, protective, and loving. I wish I could become a little person and climb into those hands and fall asleep. I would feel so safe, so warm, so loved.
When Clay and the child look into each others eyes, we can imagine a hundred things being said. Whatever it is we want to say it and we want to hear it too. I cannot come up with words to prefectly express it...maybe just another image. Last night I was at my son's baseball game. His team isn't doing too well this year. Still I like them. They play together well and are very supportive of each other. I have known many of the kids since they were little. I have seen them progress through the different levels of baseball form t-ball to senior league. When they were younger, they often had difficulty dealing with the failure, mistakes, and disappointments that are so common is baseball. At this age, they play like professionals. They handle mistakes and failures with class. When a bottom of the order player placed a perfect bunt to hit in the tying run their outpouring of support for him was wonderful. It has been so pleasurable to watch these kids learn about life through a sport. Everything felt so good and right, but then it became dark and the mosquitoes came. They were hungry little buggers and they were determined to make a lovely smorgasbord out of us unwitting parents. I thought they decided I was an especially delightful delicacy, but when I looked around, I realized they were getting everyone. We were all doing the itchy dance. The game soon ended and we all noticed each others discomfort and smiled. Yes, there are a lot of rotten mosquitoes in life but there are also fun things too. We can always find good things worth holding onto.
The look between Clay and the child, conveys this deep sense of, yes, we live in a world with horrible wars, frightening natural disasters, ugly intolerance, brutal violence, and hatred, but love exists too. Sometimes it is hard to find. Perhaps the best place to first look is inside ourselves. This image says this and a hundred other things. It is another treasure to add to the pictures, music, and stories we cherish about Clay.
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