Why is it so wrong to hope and strive for a world where people take care of one another instead scratching and clawing in a vain attempt to get to the top of a worthless pile of dung, only to be pushed aside by the next ruthless, soulless being to climb up. How did our world get to the point that the only way to support your family is to grab and claw and fight for every little crumb. What satisfaction am I supposed to take from supporting my family if the work that I do isn't noble?
I was recently in a meeting where one of our higher ups from my day job used the phrase "What we do is a noble thing." No. It's not. Far from it. What we do, and I include all of Corporate America in this, is the opposite of noble. To be noble is to sacrifice yourself for the betterment of others. To be noble is to suffer so that others don't have to. There is nothing noble in grabbing for your chunk of the market share.
That's one of the reasons why I was and still am, excited about what we;re doing at ANA Comics. It truly isn't about making money. It's about creating an environment that encourages others to meet their potential and rise above it and beyond. It's about creating a company that lowers themselves to the ground to pick you up and dust you off and send you on your way with our support.
I need the opportunity to find a "job" that fits that bill. Does that job even exist? Something where you can support your family and still be proud of the work that you've done? Where, at the end of the day, you can wipe the dirt off your hands and step back and look at what you've done and HONESTLY say that it's a good thing? Am I just being the stubborn ideologist? Am I being ignorant to the ways of the world? Would it be better for my family if I just shrugged my shoulders and said "that's the way of the world" and proceeded to tear my neighbors throat out to make the money that I need?
We've become a society of thieves and vampires and we've been told to accept it. We've been told countless times that THIS is the way the world works. I can't bring myself to accept that. I can't bring myself to rape and pillage just because it benifits my family. If that makes me a bad father and husband, then so be it.
There needs to be a change in this world. A drastic change. We need to find a way so that we don't have to tread on our neighbors face and hands to advance up the mountain of dung. We need to find a way so that we don't have to punch and gouge and scrape our way to the top. We need to find a way so that we can provide our own broad shoulders for the foundation of others to climb up and maybe, just maybe, they'll retunr the favor and allow you a chance to climb up and see over the horizon.
This tirade doesn't come near to satisfying the frustration that's eating away at my insides but I hope it's a start. I hope that anyone reading can walk away and maybe, just once in their day, stop and help someone out. Grab that taxi for the man next to you instead of leaping in front of him. Give that stranger on the bus the extra 50 cents they need to get the ride. Offer up your seat on the subway to the stranger standing in front of you. Buy the coffee for the guy behind you in line at your favorite coffee shop.
I can't tell if I'm screaming in vain to the empty heavens or if this rant will have any effect on the world. And I know that my primary responsibility is to the welfare of my girls and to my wife. So I will continue to do what I have to to keep them safe and secure and comfortable. But I WON'T stop railing against a system I see is corrupt.
That's it for now. Thanks for reading.
Nicholas P. Myers
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My best responce to this is that sometimes you just gotta do it. But when you do it you need to be balanced, especially when you have dependants relying on you. Nick, you do a good job with that.
ReplyDeleteSomethings artists have to understand is we work in an entertainment field. If you want to supliment your "day job" with your art, you need to put out art that people are going to pay for. You have a unique style, and people like it, but its not mainstream. If you want to take your art to the next level and get it to a point where its making you money, any artist in this position is going to have to make the proper adjustments to get that job. It isnt owed to us by anyone. So I recommend you decide really what you want, and then what its going to take for you to accomplish that, THEN you need to make it happen.
I see myself as a writer, especially when nobody else does. I see it as my career, my calling, something I can do (to a degree) anywhere, under most any circumstances. I like what I do and I think I can be pretty good at it when I'm not just pissing people off.
ReplyDeleteBut making the rest of life work, that is the tough part, the epic and continuing struggle. Shit, I am crashing with friends now, applying for day jobs that are way beneathe me (and having said lowly jobs not even call me back...). It all sucks, but what else can we do? Keep creating, whether there is an audience or not, whether there will even be an audience. I don't write because I think I will ever really make money at it, I do it because I love it. Of course it would be easier if I had a job (with regular, steady pay) and a home to go with it. Those things will happen eventually, I hope.
This is really more a mid-life crisis moment where I'm realizing that my job is doing nothing to better the world for my family. I want that feeling. I'm ok with where my art is because it's what defines me outside of the working world. I just want to do something that makes a difference.
ReplyDeleteMaybe sell Grit?
ReplyDelete:P