Lessons Learned…
Popular Is Deleterious
To Creativity
What
is “popular?” Is it a status? Is it an aspiration or an achievement or a goal
or a scheme? Is it even real? I believe it is illusive and fleeting regardless
of whatever else it is. I believe it is synonymous with power, that is, until
it suddenly dissolves. Anything wrapped in power such as “popular” has high
bully potential, and this certainly is the case. Popular is most often maintained
through fear; fear of being in, fear of being out, fear of being nothing but
invisible as deemed by the “populars.” I have even observed teachers who have so
feared the wrath of the populars, that they allowed accountability
inconsistencies to exist in their classrooms; accountability inconsistencies
clear to all but addressed by none. The power of popular is very tricky to
handle and almost always causes some degree of pain to someone. I believe it has some very treacherous and
destructive propensities, as well. I believe popular emotionally resembles a
house of cards, which, upon its collapse, leaves a horrific wake of devastated,
shattered self-esteems and desperately exposed and tramped upon feelings, which
in some instances never in a lifetime recover. Why? For what purpose? To be the king or the queen of the pile of
what? And yet dreams of “popular” dominate an adolescent mentality until alas
this hope of all hopes is ruthlessly dashed by another heartless aspirer,
whereby one is overtly and publically deemed uncool and thereby thrown out of
the running for popular. Who picks and chooses? Who sits in this omnipotent judgment
seat of exalting one aspirer and crushing another with frivolous flippancy? Is popular a supreme to the absolute extreme
rendition of the classic tale, “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” where everyone but
the emperor sees the lunacy and the tragic hilarity of the situation? To pour one’s heart and energies into the
pursuit of this particular illusion of popular, which seems to be very real and
important when caught in the swirling sea of it, with thrashing and drowning
part of its diabolical protocol, is to leave little heart and energy available
for the pursuit of more meaningful, more lasting, more healthy, and more honest
aspirations. Fear and creativity cannot coexist well. Creativity’s very nature
denotes uniqueness, originality, imaginative freedom, and wonder-filled
curiosity, none of which bend to the conformity expectation of aligning with
popular. Popular remains the best possible copy of what the world tells it to
be, and creativity simply will not be contained as such. To not align is to be
discarded. To be discarded is to be relegated to nothing status, to invisible,
and if a heart is strong enough to bear this, it will emerge liberated and
peaceful; a wonderful place for creativity to dwell and flourish. Can we help
our children with this, or are we just as tangled up in it as they?
No comments:
Post a Comment