want to help save the world? starting making things

I am currently redesigning the next 100 years of the future. Good news, everything turns out pretty well, although there is a rough patch here and there (but you didn't expect everything to be easy, right)?

So what caused everything to work out? Al Gore? Cradle-to-cradle design? Bikes? While all played large parts, the main cause was education. You know, schools and stuff.

Educational leaders looked at the model that is currently in place and laughed at it. "HA" they said. They found it ridiculous that kids are looked down upon for making mistakes, that art and music and dance have all disappeared from a kids curriculum by high school, that young kids are looked at as "troublemakers" for not being able to sit down for an extended period of time (in other words, for being a typical young kid), and that we are still creating graduates for an industrial society that is long gone.

These minds implemented the truth that some live these days—that creativity and Art lead to good things. They help shape the minds that solve problems. And we have some problems that need solving.

So what does that mean for you, the person of 2008? That is easy—start making things. Even if it is just a doodle of a stick person. Rediscover the fun of art and music and dance and all of the other creative pursuits that make life so damn great. Make yourself a tee shirt and wear it around town, smiling ear to ear. Paint a picture and hang it in your den, and when a guest asks who painted it, wait a few seconds then stand on the sofa and sing out "it was I that painted the picture". Help a child with homework by sketching out the problem to make it visual and watch their eyes light up when they realize that math can include pictures.

The more people who practice creativity and Art, the better off we will be. I have no factual evidence to back that assertion up...I just know.

Our society has become used to the cycle of buying things and feeling despair/cynicism about the world at large, that it may seem like the only way to live—but it's not! The problems we are facing are tough, but they aren't insurmountable—they just require a different kind of thinking.

So go forth, grab whatever tools you need (don't worry about an eraser), and get to work. The future is depending on you.

Note: As I wrote this post, the University of Indiana's student radio station (which is pretty great) played a song with a chorus of "make it better". Don't you love it when the world sends you little signs like that?