“The opposite of war isn’t peace. It’s creation.” – Jonathan Larson (“La Vie Boheme,” RENT)
Surrounded by headlines of conflict, political missteps and the daily noise and uncertainty filling social media, we’re left searching for meaning—and wondering, “What can I possibly do?”
There’s destruction all around us: military forces destroying cities, individuals destroying others’ confidence, even the demolition of the East Wing of the White House.
The opposite of destruction is creation—and it’s not always about grand gestures.
How can we create more goodness, kindness, empathy and compassion in our worlds—both physical and virtual? How can we create art in order to understand ourselves and each other? Too often, we treat creativity as optional—something for artists or for when we finally “have time.”
For me, creativity—and creation—isn’t a hobby, it’s a life necessity. Crafting with yarn and fabric, writing, baking. It’s how I find hope when things seem bleak, how I inspire healing after loss, and how I connect with others, when it seems there is so much trying to divide us.
Creativity is all around us in Fremont: the new student-painted mural recently unveiled at Dusterberry Park, utility boxes brought to life via the boxART! program and in April’s Fremont Creates celebration. As a Booklegger with the Fremont Main Library, I get to unleash creativity in second-grade classrooms, hopefully inspiring students to become independent readers.
Creativity brings people together in ways policy never can. We can’t control the daily headlines, but we can control what we create in response.
We CAN create kindness and compassion through what we say and do.
We CAN create art and beauty in the world using any media we choose.
Every painting, home-baked cookie and kind word we create adds something meaningful to what makes Fremont our home. Let’s make this our local revolution—not through conflict, but through compassion, care and creativity.
Lisa Stambaugh is a zealous wordsmith and Web Diva® who’s built 700+ websites, including many for arts and nonprofit groups. When not wrangling words and pixels, she’s often wallowing in yarn, Broadway soundtracks and cookie crumbs—proof that creativity takes many forms.
