Illusion/Elusion

I was contemplating yesterday on the appearance of things we see and feel everyday. Some things are as they seem; sunshine, green grass, blue skies. Others are illusion; a house, a car, two people in love. Still others are elusion;  government, big business, organized religion.

Illusion means a deceptive appearance or impression; a false idea or belief. So how can a house, car or two people in love be an illusion? These are things that are interpreted by the observer. We look at a house and think it is someone's home. The illusion occurs in the fact that it may be an empty building or those living there are just staying there for someplace to stay. A car can be seen as something beautiful, that is a wonderful means of transport; but it could really be rife with mechanical problems that the observer is unaware of. We see a couple holding hands and smiling at each other and think this is a couple in love. In reality, it could be an abusive relationship. The observer is unaware of what actually transpires between these two people.

I had to look up elusion to see if it was really a word. It is, it means deception, evasion. It seems to me that this is more an effect of one entity on another. Government, big business and organized religion are seen as being deceptive and evasive. They are seen as hiding the truth from others and "covering" things up. There are conspiracy theories in abundance for government actions; "whistleblowers" in all areas of government and business. Religion has been riddled with frauds. It appears that one of the common factors with elusion is it is often shown up as having a flaw and these are sometimes revealed. The saying, "what goes on in the dark soon come to the light" comes to mind.

Sometimes illusion is also elusion and elusion is also illusion. They both involve deception and they can both be shown for what they are. The car that appears to be a good form of transportation can be seen broken down by the side of the road. The religion that is doing good for the people is revealed to be an organization that is really taking people's money and making the leaders rich.  

My daughter is a seasonal employee with the IRS and was laid off at the end of June. She applied for unemployment and was denied. After calling the unemployment office she was advised that due to a change in the way the federal government is now reporting wages, she wasn't eligible for unemployment. The person at the unemployment office told her they just started seeing this in the last few months and it appears that the government has found a legal way to not pay unemployment. If this is a continuing situation, the agencies that hire seasonal employees are going to suffer in the long run because people are not going to want to work for them. I don't know how many people this will affect, but it sucks when you work for 6 months and have the idea given to you that if you are unable to find other employment immediately you will have some type of money coming in to help tide you over. This is especially hard for a young person just starting in the work force and trying to be independent. This could be called the elusion of receiving unemployment compensation that was presesnted as an illusion to employees.

I have almost finished the hands picture, just need to add shading. I will post it tomorrow.