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Among Cowboys and Indians: A Junior Self-Portrait Illustration by Chelsea Whitmore (2011)

My illustration is about a bear who is friends with both a cowboy and an indian, two bitter rivals who will never reconcile. The bear likes them both, and understands why they fight, and yet does not want to pick sides. He is forever caught in the middle between the quarrel. No matter how much he tries to stay out of it, he will be dragged back in. In the end, he may have to make a decision and pick sides, but he will try and stay out of it for as long as possible, hoping to remain friends with both, which is what he really wanted the whole time. Secretly he finds his friends' enmity pitiful and pointlessly dramatic, but perhaps it is he who needs to look inside his heart and find the empathy for his friends and help them reach an agreement. So far it has proved too difficult and so he continues to go on and try to ignore it. Much like my bear, I enjoy making new friends and never want to make enemies. This often leads to conflict that I can not remedy, leaving me in sticky situations.
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