The Story behind this wallpaper.

Aren't we all the same? Christians, Islam, Buddhist, Jewish, Jehovah, Shindo, whatever else we classify ourselves as? I am sure we are, back to basic, we are all just intelligent forms of carbon life, we are 98% the same as a monkey, about 90% the same as a banana, I don't see how we are much different even if one says we came from an ape-like ancestor, and one says we came from a floor of sand. We talk about ending poverty and bringing equality, we talk about not naming our children the same names, as with the Zhang family that covers some 88 millions of people in China alone as opposed to the one child called Johnny America Ver.2, we talk about bringing an end to religious insurgency, and yet, we are so near, and yet so far. We talk about abstaining ourselves from sin, and we talk about listening to the music of the generation, yet at every turn, we criticize them for using their freedom. We talk about donating to the poor, did it occur to you we are also contributing to the war itself sometimes? We talk about giving the women and children education and freedom, but then we also talked about teaching them how to kill, so when they grow up, they become matrys, and we become victims. We talk about changing the way we look, but inside, we are all the same twisted self.

Aren't we all the same? We talk about saints swallowed by whales and lived in their stomachs, we talk about a man who saw lights in the sky, we talk about a burning talking bush, and we talk about a man who subdued a mystical dragon. We talk about religion, and yet even in the simple message that it carries, oftentimes cherrypicked and ignored, we are not following it, "settle down, be at peace, don't fight, love your neighbours..." all that, doesn't quite make sense consider a lot of us, including me, were raised around these values. We talked about changing the course of religions, we talk about bringing a common understanding, yet at every turn, we argue over who is the true or false God, and ended up fighting once again. We talk about telling the younger generation how important a God is, a religion is to their lives, and yet at every turn, we don't forget to feed them the same things we wrongly taught before, and the lesson was never learnt, and then, we also never gave them the choice to choose. We talk about same-sex marriages, and we are no closer to that than understanding gays and lesbians, but already we are prosecuting them.

Aren't we all the same? You and I, we look a bit different, my skin color, your skin color, my face and your features, my sporting ability and your computer wizardry, my hobbies and your sensibilities, my civility and your religious beliefs, my morals and your conservative views, where do we stand now really? Peering across the shore from each other and not too far is a big red button that launches a nuke at either side. Have I mentioned our families once shared a similiar ancestor? In fact, it wasn't too long ago when we both shared the same Grandpa. You know, he was telling us the story on "Black Sheep and The White Sheep." It made me think twice, did you think twice?

Oh, I forgot, we are enemies now, I wanted your land, and you wanted my minerals, lives are spent in this relentless pursuit, and I don't think we both came near to our goals.

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*note: Black Sheep and White Sheep story, the one where the two would not give way and ended up falling at either side of the bridge.

Basically, the story I wanted to tell was simple, and as such only, to tell us how we are all not so different after all, I wanted to make an inspirational message wallpaper, and this wallpaper is the fruition of what I had in mind.

Although the presentation of the story has largely in no part similiar in the wallpaper presentation, it is generally the same meaning. We are driven by simple pleasures, a bit of greed, a bit of war mongering, a bit of anger, it is what makes us human, and we are all the same down there, we are all the very thing that made us humans.

{We are all the same, You and I, So why all the different names?} was taken from a quote in a certain book (not stated). The meaning is as it is, why all the different names? Just like the name of David and Abdullah, were they any different? When they committed their sins? No. Below the stature of a human measured, we are only so similiar as we are all the same. I don't ask of us to change, I ask of us to think twice, the Iraq War, Darfur, Bosnia, Africa, Iran, Iraq, did we thought twice? I wonder.

I guess the theme for the wallpaper was "enlightenment" you see a man using a strange piece of machine and surrounded himself with an aura of enlightenment, he is seemingly at peace, as the colors from behind represent different social interests, finance, romance, etc etc. Did we come close to understanding it all and getting to a greater tommorow? I guess some of us will just keep on waiting for the world to change.

The color layers are very out of place, I know, but it brings out the contrast of the character, covered in rust and splatters of blood, somewhat a vivid image brought much closer to the eyes of the beholder what I wish to express. There are at least 5 layers of textures, and the blood is recycled (yet again cause I find the usage a wide choice, although I am sad to say good blood splatter patterns are damn hard to find) as it has many usages. The character mainly went through a simple extraction, by feathering, I also did no much blur on the skin, so to keep the original art alive, as I really love this artist's works.

Choice of words and everything else came last, choice of fonts was decided last minute, Onyx is a good font for this.

Anyway, this makes about the longest comment I ever wrote, so read, or don't up to you. Maybe you might learn a thing or two about actually being kind to the next person you meet, and for real this time, don't fake it. By the way, if you are wondering, I am atheist, NONE of the story has anything to do with me CONVERTING, or BELIEVING IN A FALSE GOD, or whatever, heck, it is not like I am needed one anyway.