The face on the coffee cup
Thursday, September 26, 2013 at 9:55AM 
It is a perplexing thing to be an American. In our constitution, our rhetoric and sometimes our actions we espouse the highest principles of justice, compassion, equality and fair play. Yet, for the most part, when we walk upon our foundation, we walk on stolen ground, soaked in blood, the dark shadow of deceit cast across all our homes and history.
And when we face national crisis, building to war, these from whom we stole, whose ancestors we murdered, stand immediately to the front of the line among the first to enlist, the first to fight, the first to lose limb, to die, for this nation we call the United States of America.
These are the things I must think about every morning I take breakfast at Abby's and drink my coffee from this cup Abby bought just for me.
Who are you, Sir? Where did you live? Who did you love, what were your children like? Where did you die? How? What was the state of your heart?
Reader Comments (4)
True and wise words. I love reading your blog.
Thank you Bill!
Bill,
Whenever I see this cup and that of the cowboy, I have wondered if the paintings were based on an actual people or were from the artist's imagination.
Today, I thought that I would try and find out the answer. So, this is kind of a Paul Harvey "almost" rest of the story.
After a bit of sleuthing on the internet, I found that Leanin' Tree, the company which sells these mugs, was founded by an artist and this company has a museum in Boulder, Colorado, which includes a sculpture garden. http://www.leanintreemuseum.com/ourMuseum.asp
Many artists appear in a list on the site, but these artist links goes only to the products from Leanin' Tree and no additional details.
But, this is how I found out the name of the artist behind the chief and ultimately the artist's website.
Meet Alfredo Rodriguez - artist http://www.alfredoartist.com/Biography.htm
There is a contact link at the bottom of the age. I did not send a message.
Although "our" chief may very well be part of this artist's imagination, he probably does have a story behind it. Plus, the Navajo are mentioned in this bio.
With that I am off to drink another cup of coffee out of a Polish mug with shamrocks on it... (true)
Words to think about. Thank you.