Art in all of its forms is a worthy pursuit, and something we should strive to embrace. Art allows us to express ourselves and share our ideas, thoughts and emotions with others. Art also gives us the opportunity to express ourselves and share our ideas, thoughts and emotions with others. And through it, we are given a glimpse at how they are feeling. But when art becomes an industry that exploits children’s innocence, and turns them into an army of mindless followers, I think we have all lost something very valuable.
When I was younger, I loved the animated movies my parents would watch with me. They were fun movies about heroic characters, living out their fantasies and adventures, while having adventures and fulfilling their fantasies. The art of these movies was fantastic, but they had a message about heroism and friendship, and an ending that was happy. I never wanted to grow up and be a hero like the heroes in my favorite animated movies. I wanted to grow up and be a hero like the heroes in my favorite books and stories.
But as I grew up, the world changed. Now, most of the cartoons I watch as a grown-up are not about the adventures of heroes. They are about heroes fighting villains. And the endings are often not happy, but depressing. I don’t understand why the world has changed so much. It’s not as though there is less heroic work being made than there was before. If anything, it is more plentiful, but it seems to me that the world has become less friendly, and that the artists making the cartoons are making them to make money and sell toys rather than make the cartoons to help children grow into better adults. I’ve stopped watching cartoons, but I still read books, and I’m happy to say that many of my favorite authors write about heroes who do good because it is the right thing to do and not because they want to sell toys and books and become rich.
As we get older, we begin to realize that some people are good and kind and caring and generous, and other people are mean and selfish and greedy and cruel. And when we are young, we tend to look up to these heroes, admire them and hope to become like them.
Anyway, back to art…
Art is wonderful to behold. When I was younger, I would go to art museums and admire the masterpieces. I would stand in front of paintings and sculptures and listen to what the curators would say about them. But then I’d start thinking about my own work, which was to come. How would I ever achieve the skill to paint or sculpt like those masters? I could never be as good as they were, so why bother?
Then one day, I realized something. These masterpieces were created by humans, just like me, so what made them so much better than me? After all, they too had started out just like me, with no skill or ability at all. They too had learned through practice.
The real difference between the masters and myself was that the masters didn’t give up, and they kept working at it until they were good enough. They didn’t think “Oh I can’t paint” and quit. They thought “I can’t paint right now, but I will learn to paint” and continued to work at it until they were good enough.
This is how you get better. It isn’t by quitting because you aren’t good enough, it is by continuing to try until you are. The way you improve is to keep trying until you are good enough.
