Thank God for Creative Friends

This weekend I saw my friend Michael who recently independently published his first book. Seeing his work in print really got me thinking about everyone I know who has some of kind of talent or creative ability. I began to realize how lucky I am to know these people and be surrounded by them. But, then again, unlike Michael, most of my friends who are creative have set aside any artistic aspirations or goals to join the corporate rat race. Why have they done this? Many have decided to have children or homes and need to worry about financial stability rather than “living for their art.” And, in this day and age, creativity (at least in relation to writing, music and the other arts) really gets a bad wrap. For example, when I talk to my non-creative friends and relatives, they all ask me when I’m going back to work full-time. When I respond that I’m pursuing a degree in literature and hope to eventually write and teach rather than return to a soul-sucking Internet job, they look at me crossed-eyed. This reaction is both frustrating and debilitating. And I know it’s had an effect on other people I know. For example, there’s my friend Pat.

Pat lived across the hall from me my freshman year of college. Despite his sometimes infuriating personality, he is one of the most talented people I’ve ever had the pleasure of calling my friend. In college he produced a fantastic literary magazine and even launched an independent student newspaper which caused outrage among the administration, but was incredibly well-received by the student body. As a result of these controversial projects and his excellent fiction writing, Pat was awarded the Sophie Kerr Prize, the largest undergraduate literary prize in the country. We all expected Pat to go on and do great things.

After a brief stint as an intern at The Washington Post (which only caused him disillusionment), Pat set aside his creative aspirations and began a career as a proposal writer. Recently he attempted a return to writing, but once again became frustrated. While I know that he wasn’t exactly happy about the writing group he was a part of, there’s definitely more to it. There’s no health insurance or any of the other standard benefits. And, realistically, a person pursuing creative endeavors that don’t result in an instant profit isn’t considered to be responsible. Someone as talented as Pat should be writing! It’s what he was meant to do. So much emphasis is placed on earning gobs of money and living a cookie cutter existence, but without creative people there is no literature, art, and music. We need people like Pat to keep at it. My message to Pat and others reading: Keep the faith! Stick with it. And, most importantly, create!