Dear Wonder Child Blog Readers,

Exactly two years ago today I wrote and published this story about an X-ray technician who had a visionary way of looking at his patients.  It remains my most popular story by both comments and repeated visits.  Whether you’re reading it for the first time or for the hundredth time, I hope it leaves you inspired.

Peace,

Joseph

The Artistic X-Ray Technician:

A Story of Possibilities

by

Joseph Anthony

All of the other x-ray technicians said he couldn’t take artistic x-rays. It just wasn’t possible. The gamma-cameras were too precise and exacting. There was no room for any type of artistic anything.

Moreover the doctors said he shouldn’t take artistic x-rays, even if it were possible, which, of course everybody knew it wasn’t. The doctors warned that any artistic flares would jeopardize the integrity of the image.

So he took artistic x-rays anyway.

“How could I do otherwise?” He said during his most recent employee review. “I am taking pictures of people’s hearts and every heart I see is beautiful. I look at the images forming on the computer screen and I see babies instead of hearts. I see clay impressed with the fingerprints of God. I see flower bulbs in glowing soil. I see owls sleeping with their faces covered by their own wings. I see angels bowing their heads. And sometimes, especially in the hearts of children, I see galaxies just ready to unfurl their arms.

“So I am compelled to let the camera linger at the end. I program it to slide, ever so slightly as it completes the image. This creates a subtle blurring of the edges of the picture. It looks as if the image was framed in soft grass or a gentle fire. And if I am really careful with my strokes the whole image–and I reiterate–without compromising the findings of the x-ray–looks as if it were gilded with gold like an old Byzantine picture of the face of Jesus.

“I realize my efforts to create artistic x-rays bothers some doctors, but I’ve done some checking and every single person I have ever x-rayed has had full and complete recoveries or else their hearts were found to be healthier than ever. I believe these findings prove my work is crucial to our patient’s well being.

“How do I account for these extraordinary findings? I think it’s because once the heart is viewed as beautiful, it responds by healing. You see, the heart usually gets seen only when something is wrong or something wrong is suspected. But the heart–the physical form of the heart–is actually the outward manifestation of the soul’s heart. And both forms, the physical and the spiritual, are exquisitely beautiful, and therefore long to be seen, honored, and shared. So in otherwords, when I see the things I see in the images of the hearts–like yesterday, I looked at the heart of a dear old woman who had such a cheerful disposition, and I saw a dancer crouching with her arms folded around her knees, ready to rise up and act out the movements of the dawn–it simply makes the heart happy to be seen in such light.  And she left the room ready to skip down the hallway!”

The doctors couldn’t argue with his findings. Everyone being wheeled back to their rooms reported feeling lighter than air, as if they were kings and queens riding chariots instead of gurneys. They feel like children with futures as bright as the afternoon sun in June.

So even though everyone says it isn’t possible, he continues to take artistic x-rays. In fact, soon he is going to open the world’s first art school for x-ray technicians.

“After all,” he said as his review was wrapping up, “if it works for the heart, it would work for other parts of the body. So when we take pictures say, of the brain, for instance, perhaps if we saw them as bundles of tree roots wrapped in silken cloth, or if, when we x-rayed the spine and saw a glittering Chinese dragon, perhaps the owners of those brains and spines would miraculously heal also. It’s worth a try I think. That’s why I am going to open up the x-ray art school. I’m thinking of calling it The Art Institute of Inner Beauty. It’s motto would be, anything’s possible for the one who believes.”