The assasination of creativity Pt.1

What is creativity? Where does it come from? Who has it? These three simple questions hold very powerful answers that we all hold within ourselves. I like to describe creativity as a "monster" that develops inside of us at birth. Now for any monster that may dwell inside of any human being, it needs something to bring it out. Now depending on the monster this can be just about anything from music, to colors, to toys, games, and even being outdoors. Its what the monster brings out of you that holds the beauty of creativity. Children develop a sense of creativity as early as newborn babies. They begin to identify sounds, colors and patterns that are pleasant to them depending on their own unique personalities. This is brought out when children sing, dance or play pretend with their toys.

As children begin to grow older and are exposed to more things in their life, the monster feeds from it and grows faster than the child, hence a child's vivid imagination. Creativity feeds off of everything that we experience in life whether its good, bad, plain or beautiful. These experiences are brought out in a child's personality and are shown in their creative abilities. For example, if a child is exposed to a lot of love in his/ her life then that love will be expressed in a lot of things that that child does.

There are plenty of children who just explode with talents at a young age but on the contrary there are also children who's monster stays in slumber until it finds that one thing that brings it out. Every one doesn't always know their gifts and talents because its something that can naturally happen as well. I never really knew some of my talents until i hit the third grade and my first greatest talent was art. I knew i liked to draw but it wasn't until i met other good artist that i wanted to be a better artist and within six months my artistic abilities had increased enormously. That was only the beginning of it because once i got a taste of art my desire for it began to grow. From there i started to write short stories that i had planned in my mind. Along with it i included pictures to follow what i wanted to bring out. I was extremely happy with my art and writing skills that i was slowly beginning to perfect, and the monster inside could never be satisfied.

There was a huge set back that at the time i didn't see as a big problem when i was young but proved deadly as the years progressed. I remember how obsessed i had become with art and how much joy and energy translated from the essence of my soul to the paper. My grades hit a depressing slope from not completing my homework, class work and mainly for drawing in class. My teacher immediately contacted my mother who was extremely strict when it came to my academics, and punished me for feeding my creative needs. It only put a crack in the heart of the creativity that dwelled inside me, but it only takes one crack to shatter a whole.