This Is Why Creativity Will Save The World
How art and beauty give us hope
My father was an amateur historian who had a vast library of books. As a boy I used to enjoy thumbing through them, looking at pictures and quotes. In a history book by Will and Ariel Durant I encountered this sobering quote by the authors:
“Nobody ever wants to recognize the inexorable periodicity of war.”
I remember not understanding the big words and asking my Dad what it meant. “Whether we like it or not, sooner or later,” my father said, “people settle their differences by resorting to war.”
Close your eyes to truly see
I distinctly remember gazing at the art section of the library as my father spoke. The big book on Michelangelo, in particular, with all its images of the Sistine Chapel.
I remember Dad watching me and saying, “And all the art in those books, Johnny…that represents the best of us. The best of our humanity. It represents hope.
“Art is an effort to create, beside the real world, a more…
