A Reason To Create :: A Call To Action

http://www.megavideo.com/v/HAIFBNYFf0d6dfc52280250146778287f94e5d73

I had to share this.

You have to watch this.

And it’s Anthony Bourdain, so either you get a kick out of him, like I do–or you don’t.

Anyways–this episode brought me to tears and made me really reflect upon my life-my decisions–my luxurious choices.

Anthony is in Haiti. And what you’ll see is quite disturbing and horrifically sad.

But it’s not the destruction, the poverty, the corruption, and the despair that moved me–it’s when

Anthony goes deep into the slums to show the Artists at work.

Artists and Artisans with nothing–total poverty–great loss–use found objects to express themselves. To create.

And there is this scene of young boys kneeling on the dirt ground painting–where I lost it.

You see, I woke up yesterday depressed. For no reason that I could pin point. Just a grey cloud over my head.

Did I paint? Did I turn to the brush? Did I let my worries simply be? Or did I entertain them like a monkey?

These people live with something greater than depression–and they create-they make Art not ever once worrying about posting it online–about what others may say–about Etsy or getting published. They don’t worry if they’ll be an Artist if they sell their work or not.

They create because Art means they are alive.

Simple as that. They create to say they are still here. Still alive. Still breathing.

All of us are connected. Each Artist no matter where they live–dips into the same exact Creative Source that I do here in my little home studio–that you do–that Michealangelo did when he was creating the Sistine Chapel.

We are all tied together. As souls living this human life. All with a desire deep inside us to create–to let others know we are here–that we have a voice and a reason to exist.

Seeing those boys on that dirt floor painting just told me it’s time.

It’s time to realize how good I have it. How easy things are for me with my drawer of fancy paints and my Big Girl Camera as I sit here typing to you on my MacBook.

Why do I create Art? What is my purpose behind it? Would I still create Art if all my belongings were gone, if my home tumbled to ashes, if my whole family was killed in an earthquake? Would I turn to my Creative Source and exclaim out loud “I’m Still Here! I’m alive! I’m alive!!”?

Seriously, enough of all these excuses.

Stop whining about not being good enough–about stuff that happened to you in high school Art class–about not having the right materials-the right space-the right amount of time. Stop waiting till you are ready.

You are alive.

That is reason enough to create.

That is your only requirement to make Art.

From here on out, I don’t know about you–but I’m going to stop wasting my time.

I’m alive! I’m alive! I’m alive!!