I think people are intolerant of artists.
David Chase
We are all artists but we don’t see ourselves as one.
We don’t consider ourselves ones because we have a very limiting sense and meaning of the word. We think of an artist as a divinely inspired person who produces a painting or a piece of music. Someone like Pablo Picasso, or some hobbyist trying to write a pop hit on the piano. But we need a deeper sense artistry and being an artist. We need to see ourselves as a creators, designers, and originator, because we really are.
And the world is intolerant of us. Intolerant because it wants things just the way they are. No surprises. No changes. Same old, same old, but that illusion cannot linger forever, and eventually the fast moving winds of truth blow that illusion away and we get surprised, are forced to change, and must deal with the new.
People don’t tolerate artists and sadly, we might also not tolerate them. We hide from people. We hide from ourselves. Burring our talents, afraid of what our master will say when he returns, per chance we have lost what they have given us. We are afraid to think and act as artists because we people might laugh at us.
They will criticize what we’ve created. They will think us foolish for the way we see and understand the world, but you can’t let them stop you from being who you are meant to be.
You are an artist.
You were born to be one, and everything in the universe is at your disposal. The world is your canvas. You are free to shape it and create whatever is in your heart. But don’t forget that people will be intolerant of your effort. Don’t hide because some jerk, hiding behind a keyboard, will rip apart what they never had the courage to build in the first place.
It is a lot easier to copy edit than to write. A lot easier to collect art, than to create it. Easier to watch movies than to make them, but deep down inside all of us is a mandate to create. We were born to communicate and contribute, not to criticize and take.
You cannot change the intolerant people who rise up at every turn and meet you on every corner. You cannot change them, but you cannot let them stop you. They are scared. Scared as much as you might be, that you’re not good enough, that what you see is no relevant, and we are all in a weird way trying to spare each other the pain and disappointment of making mistakes. But deep down all of the critics and intolerant people in the world are secretly hoping an artist makes it. They need hope. Hope that life is beautiful and that every person’s life matters.
And so you have to be an artist for your sake and for theirs. You have to carry the cross of creativity for them.
You can’t let them grind you down. You can’t let them win.
You are stronger. You are mightier. Your mistakes are worth infinitely more than their intolerant clamour. Because you’re an artist and the world needs artist now more than ever.
