Flashback Friday-When I Grow Up



You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one.  I hope some day you'll
join us and the world will be as one-John Lennon


I wanted to be a news anchor/field reporter, a writer, an actress and a musician when I grew up.  I never wanted to be anything that wasn't of the creative nature and my mother said that was just fine.  She always knew that I was never going to want to work for NASA or become a Math professor.  She saw what I loved and she threw me into things that would make me happy.  She signed me up for drama camps and lessons, I played violin for a large percentage of my life, I took dance lessons, she bought me books so that I could devour them one at a time....these are all things that I am thankful for.  She bought me journals and told me that I had a voice and that I should use it, and this was probably the most important thing that she did.  She's always known that I was a writer and that I wouldn't ever give it up because it’s like air to me.  I thank my mother for believing in me and never telling me to go after something that I didn't absolutely love. 

Here comes the inevitable "but".  But I have recently been very upset about the way the world works.  Money is the root of all evil, yet it makes the world go 'round, so therefore the world is evil?  If this were an Algebraic problem, it would look like this: X+Y=XY, right?  Well, I don't know if that's what it would look like because I hate math and I couldn't care less about making ideas and concepts look like numbers and formulas because it seems like a stupid and pointless thing to do in the first place.  And why do I hate math?  Because it's stale, it's boring, I’m bad at it, and it's the NUMBER ONE damn reason that I can't make decent money doing what I love.  Number crunching is always more important than eloquent speech and creative ideas in this world and I am sick about it. 

Let me ask a question.  What would the world look like without writers, actors, dancers, artists, and musicians?  What would the world look like without movies, plays, music, books....what would everyone do on a Saturday night?  Sit and look at each other?  What would everyone talk about?  Why don't we respect that some minds are creative and that they add color to the world?  Why are the Arts the first to go in schools?  Why are so many jobs becoming obsolete?  Why are writers paid even less than teachers?  And I am sorry, don't even get me started on how we treat teachers.  I am so angry about this.  Yes, I realize that this has been going on for years and that it's already been talked about, but sometimes I am reminded of how ridiculous it is and how much I despise money and the rich man who only cares about making a profit.

I have gone online to look for freelance work and there exist people who post the following: Will pay 25 cents for each blog, each blog should take about 30 minutes to write.  What crack were they smoking because I’m sure it was good, and WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE?  Sickening.  Absolutely sickening to think that someone values writing so little when I have mounds of student loans to pay off.  If it’s so easy, why don’t they do it themselves?

I am not a socialist because I am not ready to give 60% of my earnings to the government, but I probably would if I knew that everyone were on board with it.  Bear with me.  Honestly, if we all chose what we love to do for a living, and if we could actually survive doing it, don't you think that it would all work out?  Doctors who go to school to be doctors because they love it, versus the money, are probably going to enjoy going to school and learning about the human body, just as I loved reading Greek plays and contemporary fiction.  I realize that we would have to work out the whole tuition thing and I realize that you are in school a long time to become a doctor, but if it were me, I would say “YAY!  I love school because I am learning about what I love!”  We could all afford to be happy and do what we love across the board, so why would it matter in the end?  I realize that I am an idealist, and a dreamer, and a silly heart sometimes.  But is this world better off without people who dream?  HELL NO! 

I am thankful for those who are awesome with numbers and science, and I am even more thankful for those types who dream.  Look at Steve Jobs.  That’s the perfect brain: creative and scientifically driven.  Science is the Universe's reminder that we CAN dream big, because it's even more mystical than we have ever imagined ourselves.  I am thankful for my dad, who can do my taxes and that I don't have to manage a national budget. I have an appreciation for all of us, and all of our gifts and talents, which is the reason I am writing this today. 

I played violin for a large portion of my life, I am a bookworm, and I chose Journalism and English for my degree, even though I knew I would probably always struggle keeping it from becoming a hobby.  When am I going to see that following your heart and your passion will pay off?  Is it true that if you follow what you love the money will follow?  Or is that just something that a rich person says when he's had good luck and a lot of people to help him make his fortune? 

I love that kid who is twiddling her thumbs in class, gazing out the window imagining what she would do if she could actually sit on a cloud.  That kid was me, and she's just as important in the world as the kid in the front, paying attention and answering all of the questions about cross multiplication.  Everyone needs a place in this world, even the artistic.

Check out this video and tell me that cutting out artistic programs is a good idea.  People have a yearning for the arts.  What about the kids who aren't good at number crunching and who don't give a crap about money and making a profit?  What are we telling them about their place in the world and about who they are?  The world would be colorless without these kids, so let's start appreciating them and let’s start compensating them when they grow up.  We should probably stop stealing their intellectual property as well.  That would be the respectful thing to do.  But let's not open THAT can of worms.  That's for another day.....

Watch this:


 http://youtu.be/2lXh2n0aPyw