There's an old tv trope I've seen play out many times over the years.
An anxious woman, a calm and practical salt-of-the-earth type man. She's pacing. He's sitting at a table with a sandwich.
"How can you eat at a time like this?" she asks.
He shrugs and points out that not eating isn't going to fix whatever problem they're facing. Then, for a laugh, he'll ask if they have any mustard.
And the age old battle of the sexes wages on.
Is she hysterical or is he insensitive?
Neither. They're just embodying the cognitive dissonance we all feel when normality persists in non normal times.
Dean Koontz touches on this point briefly in his novel The Darkest Evening of the Year. Late in the book he observes how on even our biggest, most life altering, world shifting days, when it's all over we still have to face all the small practical tasks necessary to keep life going.
And that's a very hard thing.
The world's on fire but the phone bill is still due on Thursday.
And we're not only supposed to create in the midst of it all, we also have to market ourselves on top of it?
It'd rather let a Vogon read me poetry.
How? How are we supposed to make art at a time like this?
Well, let's go back to that sandwich for a moment.
Because first of all. We have to keep going. We know the cliche. We may not like it, but we recognize the truth of it. We can't help anyone else if we aren't taking care of ourselves. We still have to eat, we still have to keep the lights on. Making art is how we do that. There's no shame in continuing to survive. We can't bring change if we don't.
And the second part of it. Will not making art help?
No. In fact, if anything silencing ourselves now may make things worse instead of better.
Not creating tends not to be good for creative types. Our morale gets worse, we get more disregulated, and that's not really something any of us need right now.
Beyond that, we are artists. It is up to us to reflect and record what's happening around us. We have a duty to speak our truths, and to inspire others to do the same.
We can't do that if we aren't creating.
When we keep creating, though, we hold a power nearly unstoppable. We can make people feel seen, let them know they have been heard, give them quiet moments of silence and comfort in the middle of the storm.
We are the helpers. We are the beacon in the fog, the light on the path. We are there to help make sure those we love do not get lost in the darkness.
There is, of course, one last, very simple reason to keep making art "at a time like this".
It's the only time we've got.
image courtesy of wikkicommons. Public Domain