A Cold Winter Morning

     It was a cold winter morning...  How many novels have you read that started with some cliched one liner, thrown at you as if you were the only semi-attractive person sitting in some seedy small town dive?  Why does the author feel it necessary to oversimplify?  I'm guessing its his way of opening the door.  I mean, there have been millions if not billions of people who know cold winter mornings.  Maybe the next few lines could read, "U could still see the gray-blue ash in the air.  Mingled with the snow on the ground it was almost as if someone had taken all that beautiful white and dirtied it forever".  So what do you do?  Hopefully for the authors sake, you walk through the door.

     Let's talk grassroots, with so many people going in so many directions, how can you create something that will reach them all on a personal level.  Mind you I'm not talking about a product or advertisement, I'm talking about creating something, a book, a song, a work of art.  There are those who seek these things out to the point we become encompassed, even a little obsessed (sadly I fall in the latter).  I get so caught up in searching out new music and media that suddenly I look up and the clock tells me that 3 hours have gone by and I haven't gotten any real work done.  But the majority of the masses are satisfied with the mass media delivery system belching out Hannity and Colmes and eating greasy burgers while listening to Nickelback.  How does this happen?  Easy.  Turn on your TV.  Everything you need is right there, telling you what's hot and what's not, who's who and who's through, what drug you need to control your overactive bladder and which pop star is using what acne product...I could go on and on, but I think I got the point across.

     Now don't get me wrong, I'm no shining star of purity and white light.  I have my shows I love to watch, my favorite burger joint, and an overactive bladder (not really, but it sounds good).  So what's the point of all this?  Well hopefully you will see beyond the giant advertising billboards pulled up in front of you like a smokescreen and start looking to your local community to find inspiration, and maybe even create something to contribute to the ever growing wealth of human civilization.