Each person, I have always felt, is unique. Each collective mass of body, mind, and spirit is, inarguably, an unparalleled example of individualism. For some time now, however, I have begun to spot patterns in people, clusters of characteristics that cause individuals to be lumped into groups. The more people I meet, the more evident these patterns become.

       Among the most intriguing of these patterns is a person’s response to and his/her relationship with art. On the one side, we have the Creators, those who see beauty in every turn of phrase, in every delicate brushstroke, in every captured image. The Creators are nature’s artists, people who look at the world around them in a way that most others cannot see, and who try to reflect it back to them in a beautiful, distinctly different manner.

       On the other side, we have the Destroyers. The Destroyers are natural critics, those dark souls whose greatest pleasure is to take something beautiful and tear it apart, picking and pulling away pieces of it until nothing remains except a bare, ashen skeleton. Destroyers, for some unknown reason, seem have an easier time in this platform of life. They outnumber Creators significantly, gathering around us like sharks in search of fresh blood, trying to snarl and snap at us, eager to suck out our creative juices, to leave us cold, dejected, and lifeless – much like themselves.

       But the wonderful thing about being a Creator is that we are not easily destroyed. Certainly, they can rip us to pieces. They can poke holes in us, call us names, and defile the beauty that we create. Such acts of needless abuse can hurt our feelings, maim our spirits, and damage our souls. But the pain is temporary. Creators have the power, the gift, to create. It is what we were created to do. And by continuing to create, we can defeat the Destroyers. 

       Beauty will always win.

For some time now, the idea presented in this article has been on my mind: http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2012/jul/29/artists-day-job-feature

It’s a problem that all artists- writers, painters, filmmakers, musicians, ect, ect, ect- have experienced for centuries: we want to share our work with as many people as possible, but we also need to eat. It’s easy to forget, when a person watches a great film, hears a beautiful song, or reads an amazing novel, that the work of art that you have just consumed was created by another human being, another person who needs to pay just as many bills as you pay, whose family is just as challenging to support as yours is, and who deserves a paycheck for their work just as much as you do.

This is not to say that I am against the awesome literary revolution that is free books. I, like every other
reader on the planet, adore free books (“e” or otherwise). When I browse through all the free content on Wattpad, and other websites with a similar philosophy, I get excited. But, I can’t help thinking: while the artists, those hard-working souls who have shared their beautiful gifts with the world, gain nothing (except exposure, and perhaps, writing practice) from sites such as these, the CEO Fatcats who are running them are
making millions of dollars. Once again, it seems like the artist is getting the short end of the stick

Money, as usual, messes everything up.

Providing artists with a grant to fund their project while they are working on it might be an excellent solution to this dilemma. (sure, it goes against the capitalist ideal, but it ensures, at least that artists will be provided with some monetary compensation for their hard work, unlike the current model we use, which seems to rely strongly on luck and relentless marketing).

It is, methinks, worth a try.