Hey gang! Comic is up. I had family in this weekend, so cartooning opportunities were scarce.
My brother was conducting for a regional band concert just across the river. So, the parents, et al met at our house so we could all attend. It was incredible to watch my bro in his element as a conductor. He had these kids doing advanced music, and doing it beautifully. We forget how brilliant he is, as we all hang out sipping wine and making jokes.
It seems creative people do not appreciate their talents sometimes. Our environment ekes it out of them. I’m speaking for myself as well. Much of our lives are focused on routine and scraping a living. We often abandon our dreams too soon. The environment is becoming increasingly hostile to innovative and creative thinking. The program we witnessed kicked off with a dire warning of impending music cuts for the school systems. Many of these music teachers will be let go at the end of this season so school districts can focus on “test scores” instead of talent.
This thought sat like a stone in my gut all weekend – which didn’t stop me from enjoying my family, hooting and roaring and laughing it up, as usual. Today is Monday, so now I feel the need to address this. What our society is effectively doing is tearing up the dreams of any future Mozarts, Michael Angelos, Einsteins, Edisons, Alvin Aileys, Steve Jobses… Instead we are standardizing our students to follow the same cookie-cut lemmings into the next opportunity to be Crew Chief at McDonalds.
Artists must come forward and say NO! This is unacceptable. How can a country be competitive if all the students are a bunch of uninspired souls? Our education system is teetering on it’s edge. It WILL fall over and we will replace it with a better system. Our children will demand it… they are asking now. It is my feeling that creativity may be gone from the schools, but it will appear in OTHER places. As an art-minded sort, my motivation for innovation appears all around in the darnedest places. We need to cultivate gardens for it to grow in our children. Let’s not allow the government to cut the soul out of learning and experiencing in the world. There is richness around us, let’s dig in and show our kids how to find it.
Eat Cookies, Hunt Ghosts, Preserve The Talents of Youth!
Tj
