On Creativity

I have this insatiable need for creativity. To see it, to feel it. I want to experience creativity -- that of others as well as my own. To become part of something, if only for a moment, that only one person could bring to reality. I want to appreciate the beauty that others have created. Their writing, their photography, their painting, dancing, music. To understand the message they wish to convey, to be changed by their perspective. And I want to do the same for others.

But alas, I have no time for creativity. And who does? With everything that's required of us, there are very few that find time for such an unnecessary activity. And it is they who search for pennies under vending machines, scrounging for money to pay for ramen noodles while they're still on sale. Clearly, this is not the life the majority of us aspire to lead. We aspire for the lives rewarded with the big bucks -- the doctors, the lawyers, the mathematicians.

But who's to say that calculus doesn't involve creativity? What about law? I would venture to say that everything requires creativity. I am creative, not only when I write, not only through my camera, but also as I run. As I study anatomy or world history. I am creative in the way I act and the way I hold myself. In how clean I keep my room and what foods I like to eat. I am creative in everything I do -- because I do it different than anyone else does. As I go through life, I create something with each breath that no one else can quite replicate.

No wonder this need is insatiable, creativity is everywhere -- and I am missing it. Thankfully, I have discovered its presence and can begin to experience it today and every day.