My life will be for creating, not consuming

The strangest things bring happiness. And a lot of the time, they come out of nowhere. Take, for example, my immense love for animation.

Since the time I could sit still for longer than 30 seconds, I have been staring at screens in utter awe as cartoons danced across my vision. One that I particularly loved was “Avatar; The Last Airbender” (in fact, it is still my favourite show…)

I adored the cute, anime-inspired art style, the gorgeous East-Asian setting, and the interesting array of animal hybrids. Avatar was a show that dealt with four separate elements (water, earth, fire, and air), and each element was assigned a martial arts style. This particular detail always left me star struck.

“The DETAIL,” I would exclaim, flailing my arms above my head as I tried to convey the beauty of the show to my bewildered parents. “The FLUIDITY of their MOVEMENTS!!” To this day I have no idea why that makes me so happy.

Last summer, I went to see How To Train Your Dragon 2, a film I had been waiting for since the credits began rolling on the first movie, and by god was I impressed.

I had seen trailers, sure, on my second hand chunky laptop, as it struggled to play the video in the highest possible quality it could muster. However, nothing compared to seeing it on the big screen. Watching the dragons’ wings quiver in the wind, the fluffy cumulus clouds swirling in the sky, even the rippling sea water, was so incredible that a few days later I went right back to see the whole thing again.

I couldn’t help but think afterwards, how would those of the Renaissance react to this? If I could put Michelangelo or Da Vinci in the theatre right now, and make them watch both films, what on earth would they say?

Would they admire what I do – how we have somehow acquired the ability to create a reality from nothing? Although, Da Vinci was a scientist fascinated with flight, so I kind of get the feeling he’d be calculating the probability of Hiccup’s inventions actually working, or questioning just how anatomically correct the dragons were.

I don’t think we give ourselves enough credit. (“We” as a race, of course. We didn’t all pitch in to help Dreamworks develop their animation programmes.)

No one seems to step back to marvel at just how far we have advanced, in every sense of the word. It’s pretty insane that we’ve come this far and we’re only moving forward.

Humans are capable of some pretty astounding things, be they good or bad. The ability to create is powerful.

A teacher of mine at a summer camp I attend (fondly nicknamed “nerd camp”) told me to make sure I try to create as much as possible in my life.

Otherwise, he said, I would spend my whole life consuming, merely feeding off of others’ creations.

I quite agree. My life will be for creating, not consuming.

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