The WE of Us
Some time ago, I wrote about George Washington Carver. He is the patron saint of The Larkin Painting Company. I’d like to say more about why we adopted him as our patron saint. Carver was a botanist and an inventor who was born into slavery in America in 1864. Philip Shepherd in his book New Self, New World, reports that Carver was recognized from a young age for his ability to heal sick plants. He was also recognized for his ability to discern which plants could heal sick animals. Speaking of his ability and ingenuity, Carver once said that, “all the flowers talk to me and so do hundreds of little living things in the woods. I learned what I know by watching and loving everything.” Shepherd reflecting on Carver’s observation writes, “when love opens us to the world, we recognize the aliveness of whatever love shows us and are brought into dialogue with it.” In other words, if you love it enough, anything will talk to you.
As an inventor, Carver invented a paint product and color palette that he manufactured and distributed to poor families just out of slavery. The families used the paints for their homes. These homes were practically shanties, but the striking colors and paint beautified their environment and helped them show pride in their homes and lives. His gorgeous paint talked to the people about their dignity, described for them the comfort and security of home, and stimulated for them four necessities of life – joy, freedom, rest, and aliveness. As an inventor and a mystic, Carver laid the foundation for the kind of company Larkin Painting wants to be. He laid the foundation for our values and how we approach our relationships with our clients and community.
We want the paint we recommend and the colors we apply in your home to talk to you in whatever ways that your heart and soul need to hear! As you listen to what’s being said to you through paint and color, I would like to underscore the WE – the WE here at Larkin painting company, the WE of you and us at LPC – in our shared humanity, the WE of our American ancestors just out of slavery whose resilience teaches the value of our freedom, dignity, need for rest and safety, and the joy of being alive, the WE of the plants and minerals that give birth to color and product that speak to us, the WE of the world! If you love the world enough, it will talk to you! We want you to love the paint and color on your walls enough, that they talk to you! At Larkin Painting, we want our work to help you show pride in your home and important spaces. We want to help your home to stimulate joy, freedom, rest, and aliveness for you. We want your home and the world to love you back. Embraced by this love, we want to be open to what is the world asking of us! of me, of you!
Be well,
Bill