In honor of this somewhat troubling fact, here are 5 things I have to say about the arts:
1. When we have a national tragedy or major event, say September 11th or the Super Bowl or anything huge, what do we do? We have music. Always.
2. When we study an ancient civilization to learn how they saw themselves in the world, we look at their art. That's where they put that information.
3. We don't tell people that they are not allowed to speak or balance their checkbook because they can't use words like Mark Twain or numbers like Stephen Hawking. But we're really quick to tell kids to put away their pencil if we don't like their drawing.
4. You don't have to make art for it to be good for you. Looking at and consuming art is just as important. It makes you part of the human dialogue.
5. Everything around you right now was designed by somebody. Maybe without paying any attention, maybe by default, but it was designed. The trees were designed too. Someone did a really good job with those.
So, advocate for the arts today if you like, but better yet, buy a book of photography you like or go to a museum or get yourself a shiny new song off iTunes or something.
And, get a pencil and paper and go draw with a kid.
