The Only Way to Save People

Make your own dreams a reality

Courtney is sad.

I can tell by the way she is bagging groceries. Her shoulders slump while she puts the carrots in with the broccoli. When she asks if I have my loyalty card, she does so with less fervor than before. She has a red, fuzzy ball on top of her hat. Even that seems to droop.

“What’s wrong, Courtney?” I wonder.

I say nothing, though. Courtney doesn’t know me. It is only thanks to the tag on her vest that I know her name. I don’t know anything else about her.

But she is sad, and that makes me a little sad.

You can’t save anyone by talking or listening.

I’m telling that with the hope that you can avoid a few decades of heartache. You will see people like Courtney who are confused or hurt or angry or sad. They will pour out their hearts to you while you listen. You might talk them through what the best choice is. Guess what? It doesn’t matter. Their emotions are largely out of your control. You are a human being. As a human, your potential is limited.

So what can you do?

You can make art that tells people how you feel. You can chase the dreams in your own head.

Your art — that is to say, anything you dream up, build, write down, draw, sing, or act out — is the one tool you have that can help people save themselves.

Why is this the case? You are an ordinary person. It seems like anything you make would be equally as ordinary. That isn’t true at all.

A blog post has its own existence, separate from its author. A painting speaks in its own voice, distanced from the person who made it. A play holds its own meaning, distinct from its creator. Removed of the baggage that is your flesh, your ideas can speak for themselves. Each project you complete will have superhuman powers because they are not human. They are ideas and ideas change the world.

A human can’t go very far, but an idea can travel to infinity. Maybe what you do is seen by a person across the world. They see it and have hope. Hope is a lighted match. Maybe that match will go out tomorrow, or maybe it will be used to start a fire.

You are human. But what you make can change the world.

Don’t let fear or doubt stand in the way of that.