Who it's for

It's easy for me to lose sight of why I create art, why I share design, why I use the curiosity and creativity as a human to put things out into the world. There's benefit in those things by themselves. They're therapeutic, they challenge the mind, encourage me to create and explore.

So yes, while the journey matters, and the elements of creativity are important, absent the final piece, community, they hold less weight.

We build, we make, we create, for ourselves (and as Gruber mentions, creating for the identical version of ourself who might enjoy it), at the end of it all we want to know that another human was moved by the time we spent.

We're creatures of community, and our art, our design, our time, while meaningful in and of itself, has use because of the change it can make in others.

Recently I had the opportunity to help at an event, which meant spending a lot more time around people than I'm used to doing——after a dozen years of working remotely I've grown comfortable with long periods of quiet punctuated by short bursts of human interaction.

For several days I had neither, focused entirely around supporting with the event, and physically surrounded by many people.

At the end of it all, as I walked back to the car, feeling rather tired but happy, one of the other attendees voiced their appreciation for the time I'd spent. It was a small thing, but the level of meaning and thanks in their voice carried weight, and impressed on my mind. I thanked them for their words, and went on my way.

I've been thinking back on that, tying it into all the time I spend in quiet working, trying to make things that will help others, and also help lift my own soul in the doing.

And I'm reminded of why this time matters, why we spend it on all our endeavors. At the end of it all, it's meaningful to know that our time was useful to someone else, that we encouraged them on their journey, that we left someone a little better off than when we found them.

That's what I hope with my work, my art, my design. Sometimes that means purely creating entertainment, doing something that will spark the joy and interest from another. Sometimes that means making something that challenges, that moves, that pushes.

This summer my family and I got to see David, by Michelangelo. I'd say that it left us better having seen it. It moved me, it made me appreciate a statue; hundreds of years removed from its creator. It made me see art in a new way.

Much of what we do we may not define as art as such, but each of us spends time in our lives creating something, doing something, being something; and in that doing we have the chance to make someone else's life a little better——or in contrast a little worse if we're seeking to extract.

I want to be on the former side of that, to have my efforts uplift, instead of destroy.

This weekend was a reminder of why we expend so much energy in particular pursuits. Sometimes it's for ourselves, yes, to know that we are capable of focusing on a particular creative effort. But other times it's because we might be able to help someone who is feeling alone, be there for someone who needs it.

Goodness knows I've been in those positions, where a helping hand lifted me up in a moment of need, a kind word helped me to keep going, and a simple smile infected me with the right kind of virus.

So, when I think of who a thing is for, why a particular effort matters, I'm trying to first make sure I'm true to myself in where I spend my time, that it uplifts the creator first in the act of trying, and then that it can have a positive impact on someone else through the benefit of the time I spent.

Put another way, as I turn 39 today, I'm a little more ponderous than usual, thinking about why things matter, why I do things, and how I want to continue to spend my time and energies.

Today I posted an episode of Async https://async.fm, and I shared with my friend words I hope were encouraging on why he should keep writing screenplays.

But what I failed to mention, and I'll add here, is that I'm not the kind of person who will coerce or demand or require action when giving an opportunity offer my advice.

I used to be.

I thought I knew everything, knew how people should spend their lives, where their energy should go, and was the ultimate arbiter of how lives should be conducted.

That was partially because of the world I came from, where people (some well-meaning, and others as charlatans) felt it their need to call out the lives of others, to impress, to manage, to demand, because it was "for our own good."

I've long since abandoned that perspective. It's one that encourages dominion, subordination, and can lead to abuse. I want no part in that.

So, absent moments of slipping back into my old ways, I try to live a life that does not tell anyone else what to do, does not demand, does not lay out a plan for another.

Instead I try to listen, I try to hear what another human is saying, try to understand their motivations and desires——because, and I know this is a shock to some, we aren't meant to control the lives of others. Every human has equal value, has equal right to exist. Has a place on this planet that matters purely for their own existence (yes, some abuse that and sometimes we need to keep them from hurting others, but that's beside the point). It's not my job to decide how someone else should live. I think, instead, my job is to live the best I can, offer thoughts when asked, and encouragement where it can count. And in that doing, if someone of their own volition, whether through or not the words I spoke, decides to do a thing——I then give them all the praise. Because it was their choice, and their actions, that led to that outcome. I was merely someone wsupporting at the right time.

That's the life I want to live, and when I think of who our time is for on this planet, I think it's for ourselves to live the best life possible, and to make others better than we found them.