I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the word, “frame.”  Surmising, Merriam-Webster defines it as 1) physique, 2) the underlying construction system or structure that gives shape or strength, and/or 3) an open use or structure made for admitting, enclosing, or supporting something.  At my age, I feel I have enough experience to comment upon this.  God forbid an innocent unknowingly infiltrates the ranks of the priviliged.  Why, it MUST be a setup!  The word “framed” cannot help but come to mind.  I think what we choose to frame says a lot about who we are.  I have our annual family picture changed out and placed above our fireplace.  On our stairway I have previous years of my precious family, magazine covers on which our little girl was featured, and lots of travel photographs we have had as a family.  In our daughter’s room she has framed, autographed playbills of performances we have seen together at the theatre.  Above every doorway in our home there is a cross.  I have original paintings of flowers, the Eiffel Tower, wolves, and various churches we have visited decorating our walls.  My husband has framed mostly maps of periods in time in which he is interested, ranging from the Old Testament to Native American lands.  Our daughter’s “art work” is also framed and displayed in our home.  In my all-time favorite move, “Ever After,” Drew Barrymore, the main character, recites Sir Thomas Mores’ “Utopia.”

“For if you suffer your people to be ill-educated, and their manners to be corrupted from their infancy, and then punish them for those crimes to which their first education disposed them, what else is to be concluded from this, but that you first make thieves and then punish them.”

I love this on so many levels.  It is my sincere belief that most people are good.  Desperation, however, can drive good people into doing things which they may not have ever would have chosen to do.  The way we “frame” the homeless all too often is that they must be “nuts” or on drugs.  How we choose to frame people and/or situations becomes our “truth.”  What do you choose to frame in your home?  Family?  Random pictures selected by an interior decorator which have no meaning?  Even in a photo, what do you choose to “frame” in that shot … only your “perfect” family close up or a wider view of the world?  Unfortunately, all too often, we “frame” a scenario in our mind which has no basis in reality.  Just because someone is rich does not mean they are benevolent.  Just because someone is poor does not mean they are lazy.  I submit we “frame” what we value.  I would adjure you not to do yourself the disservice of “framing” something based upon an initial meeting or someone’s past.  People live their whole lives without truly valuing what has been placed right before them.  Whatever your current situation in life — consider what to frame.