I spent the entire day today sorting through items at my sisters house for McGee's shop. I was at my sisters house before she was even awake and began dragging boxes down off a shelf in the garage. I came across items stored there from a yard sale from some three years ago. I found some treasures, items I truly thought had sold or I'd long forgotten. By the time my sister woke up, I'd uncovered a decent sized collection of items that at one time, we thought we could not live without. We washed and sorted and still didn't really put a dent in the amount of things left to go through. Out of this kind of chaos, McGee has made a business. With her wise wisdom and encouragement, we are letting go of items we once excitedly thought we had to have, and recovered things we were glad still remained. Nothing vaguely monetary may come from it, but the simple act of doing, has sparked the creativity in both of us.
At the shop as we listed and priced items, we started to discuss our children and their creative minds. And as I drove home, it occurred to me that we all start out with such creative drives, (fort houses and dress up and the various games we play) and I began to wonder why it is we stifle ourselves as a society by not encouraging the artistic forces in our children and each other? My youngest has a desire to be a potter. By the time he is in high school he may have abandoned the idea of "just getting through school" so he can become a potter, but for now, that is his goal. We put so much emphasis on our children getting a "good education" when in reality, they are barely receiving the knowledge to get them through the day to day. Much of what they learn is only partial truths, for what real knowledge will they need to become a worker bee? If the world should fall to shit, how will they survive? I would rather have my children be able to learn a craft or a trade and someday be able to support themselves in a way that makes them happy, not beholding to bosses, and die having done something that made them happy, rather than with regrets. I've met many unhappy people with "real jobs" but those that I know who have followed their creative natures are happier by far.
Wonderful post, your children are fortunate that you support their creative drives instead of stifling them for the sake of "practicality".
ReplyDeleteI love my parents, they did the best they could when raising me, but I was an artistic child (writing, singing, playing instruments, painting, drawing) and they put no value on my creativity. They actively sought to stifle it and instead only focused on my academic achievements.
I was a straight-A student but I tried to still pursue my art. I begged my parents for piano lessons, year after year, and was told all the while that it was a waste of money.
The final straw came when my Mom took 4 years' worth of watercolors I'd made and stored them in the garage in the Florida heat and humidity. By the time I realized she'd taken them from my closet and moved them, they were destroyed, along with every shred of any dream I'd had of pursing the arts.
They encouraged me to study something "practical" in college, and so I did. Then, in my early 20s, I was struck with a debilitating illness that will be with me for the rest of my life. It has thus far made a "practical" job impossible.
Every day I feel devastated that my artistic talents as a child were stifled by my parents, because if they were not I would likely still be able to eke out a living with painting or singing, despite my disability.
Every day, when I feel the devastation of an artistic life lost, I tell myself that my parents did what they thought was right, and that it's never too late to pursue my artistic talents.
So here I am at 29, trying to improve on talents that, as a child, would have been far easier to master.
You never know what hardships life is going to bring, and you never know how critical your creativity may be one day. A potter is a fine goal; "if the world should fall to shit" people might still need pots, and if the world fares better people will still want decorative pottery.
As you have so wonderfully put it, better your "children be able to learn a craft ... to support themselves in a way that makes them happy" than to be a worker bee, unhappily beholden to a boss in a job that stifles their spirit.