Lately I have been pondering what if all the artists, musicians, scientists, and other creative types just stopped producing? What if they went on strike? This question is not new; in fact Ayan Rand proposed this idea in her book Atlas Shrugged. For the record, I do not like much of her ideas, works, or lazie-fair capitalism. My reasons for such are outside the scope of this newsletter. Even though I didn't like reading Atlas Shrugged, I did like her notion of creative types just going on strike.

          And this question has been on my mind a lot lately since I had to work for another company just so that I could survive after going through what happened to the Prophecies of War tour, which was replete with everything except an illicit love affair, which if it did have one it would of made great prime time drama. It would give those execs at ABC a run for their money. Anyway, my work is really simple – in fact it is so simple I have been working on “House of Pain” and “Aquarian Dreams” without the boss knowing it. But I do take a moment to look around the office and just observe people. I noticed that many live very mechanical lives. Wake up by 6 AM, commute to work at 7 AM, get into the office by 8 AM, work from 8 AM until 5 PM, be home by 6 PM, have dinner, waste four hours watching TV, go to bed by 10 PM, then . . .

          And one of my tenants that I hold closely is that people are born with the ability to create. In the simplest terms, people can create another human being, which requires little effort. But can everyone take a raw material or an ideal and transform it into something else? For instance, the person that first saw the ability to take copper and use it for pipes, wiring, currency, sculptures, roofing, etc. Can everyone do that? The ability to take an abstraction, an idea; and have it manifest into reality, now that is a challenge!

          Every field has a creator, but practically all fields have people that just follow the rules that were laid down by another person. Every job is loaded with these types or more accurately: followers. So if a person follows the exact rules and believes they are creating, are they really a creator?

          I bring this topic up because during down time, I have been writing a short story that explores the transitional phase between when the creators are creating and when they disappear. What would happen during this phase? I believe that life would continue on as normal for a period of time, then things would began breaking down. Little by little society would change. Tiny cracks and fissures would occur in society's wall. Then the paneling would fall off, walls would open up, and then windows would break and fall out. The process would be no different than what happens to an abandoned house.