The Opposite of War Isn't Peace, It's Creation!

I am a “Rent”–head. I‘ve joined the ranks of those obsessed to some degree with the Broadway musical “Rent.” I am late to this group having missed the show’s inception and long run in New York and having had no interest in the touring groups, which brought Jonathan Larson’s musical to a theater near me.

What I knew about the production – addicted, ill, bohemian 20-somethings with no rent money – seemed to have little to do with me (40-something, married, soccer mom with a van full of kids, community visibility and a couple of mortgages). But on a recent vacation to celebrate my 20th anniversary my husband and I went to the movies. “Rent” was playing. We saw it. I was hooked.

I asked my daughter to buy me the sound track for Christmas. I sang along full voice while house cleaning. I played it in my headphones while working in my studio. The sound track to “Rent” became the soundtrack for my own life. I’m in deep. “No day like today” rang in my ears as I packed my art bag to begin a garage door mural that had been requested months before. Workmen repairing a building on a neighboring lot watched me curiously as I plied my paintbrush while belting out “Take Me Baby or Leave Me!” I stood back to survey my work as “La Vie Boheme” pumped through my head and then I heard the line, almost thrown away, “The opposite of war isn’t peace, it’s creation!” And something clicked. I wasn’t painting hummingbirds on a dilapidated garage, I was balancing the earth. While destruction seemed to be spinning in ever expanding spirals in war zones around the world, I was using my energy to create something. It wasn’t a mural, it was an act of peace. How is that for an epiphany!

So this has become my new mantra: Create Something. Create a painting, a story, a song, a garden, a business plan, a soufflé, a family. Write a letter, hum a jazz riff, throw clay on a wheel, hold a board meeting in a garden, dig a goldfish pond, toss cilantro in your omelet, have a vision and bring it to life. Create Something.

It’s not that hard. Dream a dream. It doesn’t matter how big. Make it a reality. You can do it. Really. I can help if you like. After all, I’ve got my own soundtrack.