There’s a theory that I’ve come to hold fairly close.
And they say it takes one to know one.
It takes someone who stifled their creativity to know one.
It takes someone who chased the money and title to know one.
It takes someone who tried to be someone they weren’t to know one.
But it’s a delicate balance you know?
We are fighting two instincts.
Two, conflicting survival instincts.
The instinct to blend in.
To fit in.
And the instinct to create, build, and change.
But our world rewards and praises people that fit into the system.
The people that perform well on standardized tests.
The left brain types.
It’s a viscous cycle.
Get good grades in primary school.
Study hard for the ACT/SAT.
Get into a good college.
Get good grades in college.
Get a good job.
Seek more money & promotions until you’re 65.
Then go enjoy your life!
You deserve it now!
But like I said, it takes one to know one.
It takes someone who fell into this cycle to know how self defeating it is for the wrong person.
This system actually is a great fit for some.
My brother is a good example.
He’s the smartest person that I know.
And he has a big heart.
So it sounds like I am saying he’s flawed or misguided by pointing out how well he’s done in the system.
But that’s not what I am saying at all.
I am saying that the system isn’t for everyone.
Just like vanilla ice cream.
(I’m on day 6 of a no-sugar-added fast and all I can think about is vanilla ice cream)
People like my brother are incredibly important and incredibly gifted individuals.
They are the unicorns of this world just like envious startup founders.
We need them.
They need us.
It’s all the same.
But take my sister for example.
My sister is also an incredible person.
But she’s the complete opposite of my brother.
My sister and her experience trying to fit into the education/career cycle of today is the problem I am talking about here.
My sister will find a way to make a big difference in this world.
But it will take her longer to do so.
That’s because the path that matches my brothers’ gifts is clearly laid out.
The path that matches my sisters’ is about as clear as mud.
I look around this world and see a constant battle in people’s eyes.
People trying to be someone they aren’t.
People eating themselves to death.
Drinking themselves to death.
Destroying their lives trying to cope with the pain of attempting to fit into a system they were never made to.
Not everyone, but enough to catch my eye.
Enough to know I’m not alone.
It’s a survival mechanism.
Don’t fight the tide.
Swim with it.
Find a way to enjoy your job.
Keep looking for a church.
That one just isn’t right for you.
You’re in a different season.
Go out and party with people your age, it’s weird to want to read on a Saturday night.
It’s funny that as I write this, I’m about to be kicked out of my apartment to make room for a batch of 50 artists being brought in from all over the world to create art in my city.
One of the key efforts to revitalizing and growing my downtown area is bringing art to it.
Not hot companies.
Not music festivals.
Art.
Let me rephrase because I hate the word “Art”.
Somewhere in elementary school, I learned to hate the word.
“Today we are going to learn how to draw a face.”
“Trace these lines and color in and you’re an artist!”
If there’s one thing I know it’s that this world needs more cookie cutter artists coming out of school.
That’s sarcasm if you didn’t catch it.
I have a belief that I am starting to really embody.
The belief is that we are a world full of creators who haven’t fit into the system.
It didn’t work in high school.
It didn’t work in college.
And most of us gave in and picked a career that wasn’t us.
Isn’t us.
And the rest are left to muck and fight through life trying to succeed in a world not set up for them.
I wonder what this world would be like with a stronger infrastructure for creation.
Better platforms for the right brained.
Sure we have them, one could argue.
But they aren’t democratized.
The power is held by one or two people making the decision of what goes into the museum, magazine, newspaper, bookstore.
I can’t help but think about how different our world could be, had the system been flipped.
A system that caters to the right-brained.
Where memorization wasn’t a guaranteed ticket to Harvard.
Where abstract skill sets were the hottest commodity.
But there’s the problem. How can you standardize the measurement of true creation?
You can’t.
People can’t.
Sure as hell one teacher can’t.
I’m not taking shots at educators.
It’s not their fault they are asked to rank kids on an objective yardstick.
They’re just doing their job.
I’ve often thought that my purpose on this earth is to help my fellow creators.
To help build a platform, ungoverned by people who’ve succeeded in the system and become decision makers, guarding the gates into creation heaven.
To give a person the ability to speak to the world.
And God-willing, make a decent living doing so.
Perhaps this is my purpose.
I guess my point here is, my heart breaks for this world.
For my fellow creators.
It’s heartbreaking that creation has to be an elective.
A hobby.
A side hustle.
A dream.
Is there a better hammer that we can give our creative community?
To build.
To influence.
To inspire.
To share.
To love.
To grow?