Real artists, the ones who can’t function properly if not creating something, have to learn to act like “normal” human beings. They must keep regular office hours, must process emotion properly, dress appropriately, conform…unless famous. Then they can do whatever they want, be talentless, act atrociously and are revered.

Regular Joe artist, just trying to live life with his curse, has to learn to speak human if he is to be accepted into society. Any society. He or she will always fit in with their own kind but that gets a bit dull and most artists just want to drone on about what they are doing.

Normal people never have to learn to speak artist…unless they are genuinely curious. The artistic temperament gets a bad rap. We are awkward and elegant all at once, we learn your ways but our horns tend to stick out anyway. We obsess, we over analyze, we can’t let go of something until we understand it. We go on and on about the beautiful smell of skunk. We embarrass ourselves for you just as much as for our art. When we are dead, people laud us, collect our work, say they knew us when…but to interact with artists on a regular basis is just too much for most to handle. Too raw.

We are ridiculed, and told we are lazy. What people don’t understand is that we are thinking. We are looking, we are listening, we are feeling everything so that we can put it in a song for you to enjoy. We Paint, write, dance so that you too can join in the celebration of life. We express what you feel so that as humans we don’t feel so alone on this planet. We help you (in private) get your freak on.

When we learn to speak your language, the least you can do is learn a few words of ours. I can’t understand the stock market but that doesn’t mean I’m not kind of interested. Maybe you could explain it with stick figures or something.

Learn someone else’s language of life. At the very least it will give you a different perspective on your own. Who knows, you might learn something about yourself or someone you love and respect. Just quit putting people down because they are different. Quit loving and shaming all at once. It is tiresome.