Peace and Compromise...

How Does Your Garden Grow? Gloves

A while back (ok, a long while back) I received a comment on a post I did on Craft Stylish that showed one of my embroidered pieces. The piece featured a peace symbol. Not unusual, I have peace symbols on a number of pieces & I didn't really think a lot about it, after I posted it. I never received any notifications on comments & so, I didn't think there were any. I went back, a while back, visiting the site after seeing something interesting in the newsletter & came upon the comment on my post. I'm not sure how the comment was actually meant. The written word can come out different than spoken words, there's no vocal inflection or facial expressions to put the words into a context, so you have to rely on well, the context of surrounding words. The commenter had stated that my peace symbol was not a peace symbol, but rather a Mercedes logo. I'm not sure how or when Mercedes chose their logo, what meaning they attach to it or why they chose what they chose but, I have seen peace symbols drawn two ways, as a trio of 'triangles' or with a line extending through the lower 'triangle.' I vaguely remember a controversy over a car company (Mercedes, I assume) that wanted to copyright the peace symbol (without the extending line) & keep people from using it. I also remember the design for the peace symbol, at least as it was explained to me, probably from my my 'hippie, flower , love child babysitter , as being chosen specifically as a trio of triangles within a circle to mirror theological & philosophical ideas that were consistent with peace. This is one of the main reasons that I prefer the symbol without the extending line. The design makes sense this way, when you add the line, it becomes a four part symbol & loses part of its meaning, unless you just ignore the extra line. It's easier to draw with the extra line (& some preferred just to draw it this way, for the ease of drawing), it just seems like a compromise. Compromises can weaken principle or meaning. You have to pick your battles, though. Can you imagine  'peaceniks' battling with a car company over a symbol? That might have been the wrong battle. Those that created & adapted the peace symbol, co-existed with the auto makers. I can make the symbol either way & 'peacefully' co-exist with detractors, well meaning or not &  turn the other cheek, so to speak. What do you think? Are all battles worth fighting? Should we choose what battles to fight, save energy for the things we feel are worth fighting for? I think so. To do otherwise might wear us out, so when the real fights come along, we have little or no energy & end up giving up when we need to fight the most...SAM