What Has Happened to the Neighborhood?

            I was born into a great neighborhood. The people are mostly all pretty nice, they are strong believers in individual freedom, and generally work very hard to preserve the community and help out those in need. But lately, there has been a notable change in the air. The people don’t say hello like they used to, the fund raisers that seemed to go every other week have all but stopped, and there has even been a spike in crime around the neighborhood. I used to love living here, but now I can’t go out after dark. My parents have even been looking into other neighborhoods with houses for sale. I couldn’t imagine moving, but I am forced to ask… What has happened to the neighborhood.

            I have only lived here for the short seventeen years of my life, but this is my home. I take pride in it. There is a sign on E Main St. that says, “founded in 1810.” I couldn’t even begin to imagine what life was like here, way back then, but I imagine it was not quite as wonderful as it has been during my time here. This being Alabama, there were most likely slaves and slave owners, not to mention the whole War of 1812 thing. This town was all but certainly built on the backs of people I wouldn’t much care for, or at least those they made labor for them.

            I of course, had nothing to do with the founding of this town, and I know full well that feeling guilty for any of its history is ridiculous. I live in the present, and as far as I am concerned, that is the only time in which this town has ever existed. Of course, in the present state of things, I wish I could go back in time just a little bit. The cause of the current downfall is mostly contributed to the shutdown of a large factory that used to account for about half of the employment of the entire town. Again, I had nothing to do with the decision to shut down the factory, and I don’t feel as though I played any part in this town’s arrival at the downtrodden state it is currently in. After all, I am only seventeen.

            We watched a film in school that showed the period of man amid the entire history of the planet Earth. By comparison we have been here for but the first half of an eye blink. My life in this town is not quite that brief, but nor has it been as consequential. Man has manipulated the earth more during their time than any other organism since the production of oxygen that nearly rendered the place desolate. I am just a school kid that plays in the band and occasionally donates to charities when they have something good like a bake sale. I will never be mayor or a priest or any pillar of the community. I plan to become an accountant and live a modest life with a wife and two kids. Hopefully by then the neighborhood will have found its second wind. Of course, if my parents “do” move, I will have to somehow adapt to a new life. I can still be an accountant with the wife and kids, but I would have to do it somewhere else. I’m sure it will be nice there too, though.

            -AMS

Why Write?

            Some might say it is crazy to spend hours of your life each week dedicated to writing works that maybe a couple dozen people read. So why do it. Why sacrifice your precious time to creating something that few appreciate? The answer is, what else are you going to do. In the end, when your life processes come to a halt and the presence that society has come to know and appreciate as you is now a mere memory, ever fading with each passing moment, what will you have left behind. The obvious answer for most would be children, and I won’t argue against this. Children are creations that simply come to take on their own role in the creative process. But aside from offspring what can you honestly say you are leaving behind. The rights to a bank account containing numbers, perhaps a house or a car that will later be sold or perhaps destroyed. If you truly ask yourself, what is my legacy, would you be happy with the answer?

            There are many forms of creation. Children, as I had mentioned, any form of art, be it visual, musical, textual, or otherwise, one could even create an organization or a business. Creations need not be tangible or even functional. The only thing a creation needs to be is created. To whom a creation is dedicated or for whom it is created is at the sole discretion of the creator. Often musicians will credit crowds with their success and tell them that what they do, they do for their fans. My work has virtually no fans, nor is it dedicated as such. I would, and be it the case will, continue to create my works on a regular basis from now throughout the foreseeable future should my entire fan base dwindle to my own views. My reason for this is that I can say with perfect contentedness, that I am proud of the work that I have done, and happy with the life that I am leading.

            So what is wrong with consuming and participating, why this need to create? There are, of course, those who appreciate art, and those who participate in organizations, some very noble ones at that. These people may even be content relishing in the works of others while offering nothing of their own but support. I am not going to tell you that either outlook on life will lead you to a better or worse outcome. I only insist that those who have never lived a day in the life of a creator take a chance and make something. Anything. Write a short story or learn an instrument. You don’t need to start your own business, just develop an initiative at work and propose it to your boss. Your creation could just be a recycling bin in the break room. It sounds unrewarding, but that recycling bin might be there long after you retire or change jobs. Eventually, employees won’t even remember a time when that recycling bin wasn’t there. You likely won’t be the next Beatle or Stephen King, but anyone can be recycling bin guy.

            -AMS