AUTHOR
TREVOR TOOP
My kids like to take pictures of me fallen asleep on the couch. They find this particular humor valuable enough to share, especially if there is a fly involved or a dog is licking my feet. Presumably their friends can relate. They too have parents whom they consider to be worthy as comedy.
A while back, my daughter related to me with some delight, that she had posted a cropped picture of my head to her Instagram account. It garnered much attention as it was shared around with her group. “Don’t you get it? It’s the DAD shot. The white hair and glasses. That’s all you need to know. My friends laughed their heads off. Some of them are even using it as memes on their phones...”
A while back, my daughter related to me with some delight, that she had posted a cropped picture of my head to her Instagram account. It garnered much attention as it was shared around with her group. “Don’t you get it? It’s the DAD shot. The white hair and glasses. That’s all you need to know. My friends laughed their heads off. Some of them are even using it as memes on their phones...”
If I were to draw a cartoon of the picture, it would look something like this.
Apparently, a cropped pair of spectacles eyeballing you, combined with snow on the roof is sufficient information to sum up what I am. Such an incomplete image is not unique. It might be all you see of the stranger who is driving your taxi. What you do not know however, is that he could be a doctor or a lawyer. So I have decided that I am going to complete the equation and fill in what I think is missing from the picture.
The view from the rearview is one upon which reality has come to roost. When you are twenty, you have a lot of ideas about the world. Most are untried at that point. At worst, your views might be doctrinaire and supplied via ideologies that sound good but bear little resemblance to life. The view from the rearview then, is one that has been sifted from the sands of experience. There is little vanity attached, at a certain point it is just noting what you see. Some remarks come as a lament, some as a tribute to hope, and some simply comment on life’s ongoing comedy. In the end, the view from the rearview is merely honest. It might be referred to as my “unvarnished opinion”.
Warning: objects are closer than they appear. Like Kierkegaard said, life is lived forwards but understood backwards. These are my reflections from the rearview.
Oh... and I am a graphic artist and illustrator by trade. To see some of my professional work, look here.
Apparently, a cropped pair of spectacles eyeballing you, combined with snow on the roof is sufficient information to sum up what I am. Such an incomplete image is not unique. It might be all you see of the stranger who is driving your taxi. What you do not know however, is that he could be a doctor or a lawyer. So I have decided that I am going to complete the equation and fill in what I think is missing from the picture.
The view from the rearview is one upon which reality has come to roost. When you are twenty, you have a lot of ideas about the world. Most are untried at that point. At worst, your views might be doctrinaire and supplied via ideologies that sound good but bear little resemblance to life. The view from the rearview then, is one that has been sifted from the sands of experience. There is little vanity attached, at a certain point it is just noting what you see. Some remarks come as a lament, some as a tribute to hope, and some simply comment on life’s ongoing comedy. In the end, the view from the rearview is merely honest. It might be referred to as my “unvarnished opinion”.
Warning: objects are closer than they appear. Like Kierkegaard said, life is lived forwards but understood backwards. These are my reflections from the rearview.
Oh... and I am a graphic artist and illustrator by trade. To see some of my professional work, look here.
