Monday, October 24, 2016

I Am Not A Writer

"Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up."
Pablo Picasso


I really like to write. Whether I'm sitting down with my guitar and writing out some thought or feeling and putting it to music or just writing down random stories that come to my head, I really like to write. But I am not a writer. I mean, I just started a sentence with "but" so I think you can tell that I am not a writer. I used to write lots of stories when I was younger. I'd write stories of mysteries and murder. I'd write stories of angels and demons. I'd write write stories of dragons and knights. Somewhere down the road all that went away for awhile. I was like almost every kid in this world. You see, every kid is an artist, a writer, a dancer until they are told they're not good enough. Sometimes the kid puts the pressure of perfection on themselves due to something they saw on television or something they read perhaps. Other times that pressure of perfection is put on the child by their parents. But kids need space to be imperfect because true art will never be perfect.

Perfection is not a goal we should strive for. After all, perfection is in the eye of the beholder so in some way everything will be imperfect. I'm sure some could look at the paintings of Picasso and say it's not good or perfect but does that make it true? No, of course not. There will always be someone out there to point out why something is bad or wrong or point out mistakes. Sometimes the mistakes are turn out to be what we like the most. Some of the greatest lines in movies were actually bloopers of the actor messing up what was written. While we should never shy away from CONSTRUCTIVE criticism, we absolutely should cut out people who are constantly negative. When did it become cool or good to tell someone that thing that they enjoy doing so much is garbage? When did it become the right thing to tell someone that they aren't good enough? When did we get the right to say something isn't perfect in the first place? Why not find enjoyment in what others enjoy? If someone likes to write but it's not perfect when it comes to the grammar, who cares? Find the beauty in it! If someone likes to sing but they're off key here or there, who cares? Find the beauty in that person and enjoy! If someone likes to paint... I think you get my point.

I really like to write and many could  read what I write and rightly say to me, "you are not a writer." When it comes down to it, I enjoy what I do and that's more important than someone else's definition of perfection. It's more important than your definition of perfection. And while I don't shy away from constructive criticism, I also don't freely open myself to everyone's opinions. When you put something online for the world to see, almost EVERYONE will be a critic. But their criticism and opinions, no matter how "right" they may sound to themselves, have no value or weight to me. There are people in my life that I trust will give great constructive criticism when I need it. But if you're not in that closed circle, you can save your comments of how to make something better. You can choose to enjoy with me or simply move along. There's that old saying, "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all." I think I prefer, "If you don't have anything nice to say, say something nice anyway."

This world is tough enough without us going around stomping on each others dreams and pleasures. So I'm going to say this: if you like to write, you're a writer. If you like to paint, you're an artist. If you like to sing, you're a singer. If you like to dance, you're a dancer. Whatever you like to do, you are that! Enjoy life because it's so short. Enjoy others lives because theirs are short too. Dream, believe, be.

PEACE.

Thursday, October 20, 2016

Welcome To The Thin Skinned Era




Have we really gotten to the point where people are so thin skinned that they can't take a joke about who they're voting for? Yes... Yes we have. I truly don't understand how someone can pay for a ticket to go see a comedian and then take all the jokes so personally that they end up leaving. When it comes to cracking jokes at the expense of politicians, WHO CARES?! It's just a joke! It's comedy! To me it's no big deal at all and I think people need to lighten up a little bit.

This presidential election has divided so many and to be honest I'm not going to say that's a completely negative thing. Sure, you now know that you were friends with borderline racists but that's a good thing, right? Now you can distance yourself from them. Sure, your Christian friends are disgusted with the "immoral gays" but now you know they're ok with a guy bragging how he sexually assaults women. Hooray for Christian morals! And sure your other friends are absolutely fed up with government corruption but now you know they're ok with voting for more of it! Yay USA!

I think no matter who gets elected (it's going to be Hillary) WE ARE GOING TO BE FINE. Yes, it sucks that it looks like for the next four years we're getting more of the same but we will be okay. So learn to take a joke. Make fun of your own candidate (I'm voting for Gary Johnson so I have plenty of material too). And don't be so thin skinned. Oh and don't vote for Trump lol...

Seriously though.. Laugh! Because if you don't laugh you'll cry.

PEACE