Criticism

“Any fool can burn down a barn.

Building one is something else again.”

Martha Beck author of The Joy Diet

Criticism can be thrown freely in the direction of a creator…or behind his back.

I say “thrown” because it’s often let loose without deep enough thought of the impact by the person who has hurled it. It’s often spontaneous and ill planned.

In my experience, those who criticize the most, do or create the least themselves.

For when someone is a creator himself, he knows what it takes to accomplish –

• acting on the spark of an idea

• the discipline of drawing up the blueprint for that idea whether with ink and paper, on a computer, or via a graphic design

• the redo’s it takes to get it just right

• the courage to put the creation out into the world

• the acceptance in knowing the creation is on its own now, no longer the creator’s exclusive possession

A creator is usually less judgmental or critical of others’ creations. He knows what it takes to create, to build something.

That effort should be celebrated and encouraged.

The creators in our world have given us the inventions that power our lives and the beauty that reminds us of our humanity.

Photo: Franconia Notch, The White Mountains of New Hampshire