Can creative outlets save the world?

I found this post to be an inspiring and awesome call to action; especially as the author refers to the artistic ambitions of the young Adolf Hitler. Can creative outlets help us to address some of the gravest issues facing our civilization (war, violence, terrorism, etc.)? I dare think so. Yes, perhaps it really is that simple. 

The post caused me to recall the chilling words of Gwendolyn Brooks’ poem “Boy Breaking Glass” in which she says, “I shall create! If not a note, a hole. If not an overture, a desecration.” 

Creation will occur. Regardless. The question is: What will be the nature of the creation?

I am deeply interested in art therapy and psychology. And I have always been drawn to stories of young people who have been encouraged to vent their frustration and confusion through an artistic outlet of some sort (whether or not they become professional artists). 

Last year, I had the privilege to teach a class on editorial cartooning to a group of middle-school children with the Big Brothers, Big Sisters program. It was amazing to see what could come out of a quiet child who had never tapped into their creative potential. Regardless of their artistic skill, it was clear that these kids had something important to say about the issues that mattered to them. It was life-changing for me and reinforced for me the important place that creative expression occupies in human life.

We’ve heard about rappers who would’ve been drug dealers. We’ve heard about jazz artists who would’ve been hustlers. We’ve heard about at-risk youth who find redemption and cathartic release through public theatre.

The profession doesn’t matter as much to me as the therapeutic nature of creating. So I totally agree with a comment on the post that said, “Sometimes, the simple act of being quiet with a bunch of markers and paper for an hour or two can be therapeutic, whatever the artistic value of the finished work.”

I know that worked for me. As a child, I loved to draw stick figures. Soon I started studying the work of comic book artists my illustrations began to improve. A whole new world opened up. Realizing my interest in drawing, my grandmother would bring home reams of printing paper that her company would throw away so that I could have drawing materials. “From so humble a beginning…” Such is creation.

There is so much creative energy inside us that needs to be directed. I believe that repressing the impulses to create and to contribute will only hurt us in the end. In my view, creative expression is going to happen no matter what and any efforts to actively repress/suppress/oppress those impulses will only ensure that the later expressions of those impulses will take more malignant and unhealthy forms. (Recall: "I shall create...if not a note, a hole...")

I say we help people discover constructive outlets for their creative impulses. 

I can only speculate as to what my life would have been like without my creative outlets. I believe that realizing my creative potential so early in life kept me free from a lot of the troubling traps native to a lower-class, urban environment. I am convinced that my having an artistic outlet contributed greatly in helping me to grow and mature. 

Art was a consolation for me through lonely, boring and quiet times. It was how I believed the “divine” communicated with me. When I was confused or disjointed, I could always find refuge in the act of creating; and I still do.

I believe art helps us to process life. By cultivating the creative impulse, we develop new ways to looking, listening, touching and tasting the world around us and exploring the depths within.

I make my money as a public relations executive, but I am an artist who thrives off the creative process- both at work and at home; whether I am playing guitar, sketching illustrations, composing a poem, or writing a blog post. 

I do these things, not to make money- but to make “me.”