Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Making Our Own Stage

We in our current society as a whole seem to be obsessed with reality television. I will admit that there are a number of the reality competitions such as Hell's Kitchen and Master Chef that I enjoy. I did at one point watch Dancing With The Stars and once I checked out a season of So You Think You Can Dance. The one that I was watching tonight though got me thinking. I put on an episode of America's Got Talent observing the performers as they attempted to wow the judges with talents both spectacular and questionable. 

As I listened to singer after singer, watched dancers and daredevils it struck me that while some of the true talents such as singing are an ability that they were most likely born with, many of them are practiced or learned like the strength acts or the variety shows. They are fun to watch but it made me think what about the more artistic talents? Occasionally I have seen spray paint artists on the show or once there was a man that created designs in sand but what about the paint and brush painters? Where are the graphic designers or the poets? Why are writers not standing on that stage with an audience riveted by the words they have written?

We are talents in our own right and it is difficult to know that we are not recognized with the same respect as a man that smashes watermelons with his head to break a world record. Not everyone out there has the ability to weave an intriguing story nor take you on a journey with nothing but the written word to guide you. While there are a number of us writers and artists it is far more difficult to find someone that can look at a blank canvas and then take the simple brush combined with colorful paints using them to produce a work that just mere hours before didn't even exist. 

Our talents live in our heads. We do not train in the gym. We aren't measuring the size of our muscles. Our stage presence rarely if ever crosses our mind. We are the creators of the previously nonexistent. Our designs make something out of nothing while transporting our audiences to places they never knew they could go. It makes me sad to know that we do not have a stage and auditorium full of screaming fans like other talents but it just makes it that much more satisfying when we are finally recognized for what we do.

No comments:

Post a Comment