Aren’t we all supposed to have guardian angels? They may not be all that interested in their charges, and sometimes seem to disregard them completely.
There’s one in particular who seems to have forgotten what he was supposed to be doing. In any case my friend Colleen Garvey caught him sleeping. She said he was the angel of peace. Had he given up, perhaps overcome by the task facing him just when we needed him most? Colleen ‘s etching dates back to the 1980s and I must say things haven’t in the least improved since then.
Guardian angels – it is nice to believe in them even if they are caught napping. The fact is that we all need help in facing the trials of this life. The various cultures, the various religions, all seem to have had their helpers or spirits, mostly with wings, who watch over the individual. I’m sure that if we go back to the Paleolithic, to the cave paintings, guardian angels were hovering around, perhaps initially to protect children. Spirits hovering in the dark of the caves? Would they have had wings? The Etruscan spirits did – but can one call them angels? Some were demons, guardians to the entrance of the underworld, some divinities. The Mesopotamians also had their winged figures as did the ancient Greeks. Often, they were personifications of abstract concepts, protective Genii. We have Egyptian and Assyrian gods and goddesses. But when we get to our more contemporary guardian angels, they all seem to be male. A point to ponder. A female guardian angel might not have been caught sleeping when the world was in such a mess and might have tried to do something about it.
Erika Bizzarri 
Hi Erika. This is such a truly 2020s portrait. Even 40 years doesn’t change things. I think you are right. Put women in charge and we might avoid these dangers. What a mess we’ve made for our children and grandchildren.
Much love
M
Sent from my iPhone
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Grazie for this timely piece! With the world in such a sorry, chaotic state, the concept of a Guardian Angel helps. We feel we have one in the saintly Italian grandmother, Eleanor, who took care of Noah from the age of three weeks so that I could go back to work. That was one of the great love affairs of all time. Everything she cooked tasted of love. She always had her delicious macaroni, meatballs and sauce ready for him. She lived until he was a sophomore in college when we lost her to cancer, but we feel that she is always with us. Noah named his first child after her. He considers himself lucky to have had two mothers, both with Italian connections. And we all consider us fortunate to feel under the wing of the original Eleanor.
Diane Joy Charney
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