I don’t read as much as I should. How often do people say that? I think a good chunk of people do, but I also think a good chunk of people don’t care about reading, at least not with the desire to do anything other than escape. I make no judgement on that desire now; it is the subject for a piece of writing for another time.

Tim’s Trailhead for the week focuses on the “General Public,” and whether he — and, by extension, the rest of us at The Compass — is a part of it. My initial reaction is to say no, that we are a separate entity, more in tune with the universe. We are artists and thus more interested in complex ideas. Then I take a minute and actually consider the question. Now that I’m out of college and out of an organization brimming with idealism, I think I’m closer to the General Public than I was before. I see people unconcerned about issues bigger than the ones facing their immediate world. Their opportunities are limited, for myriad reasons: lack of education, a tiny bank account, obligations to relatives, or others I can’t assume. They don’t have the luxury to write essays and songs every week for a blog.

The trouble with believing I’m different or better than the General Public is the oversimplification it requires. I see the General Public as the lowest common denominator, the group most things in our culture appeal to. My tastes intersect with its on occasion: I watch TV, listen to the radio, and use Facebook. But I also like Community, They Might Be Giants and lanceandeskimo.com. I am, at times, a part of the General Public, but aspire to contribute something more than being the receptacle for others’ creations.

I return now to books. I finished my first book of 2012 last week. Somewhere Over The Sun by Adi Alsaid was given to me by my good friend Raven. It’s a novel by a young writer (who you can explore further here on Tumblr) about a writer who discovers he has the ability to write stories that come to life. It is not a perfect book. It is not expertly crafted. It is not an innovative form of the novel. But it is an honest and joyful attempt to reach out of the crab barrel that is the General Public and remind us all of the great things that can happen when we realize our words are powerful, that creativity changes existence, that we are capable of making the lives of the people around us happier. And since we have that capability, we cannot allow ourselves to remain in the swamp of complacency that the General Public tends toward.

-Paul

P.S. The idea that the General Public is a fictitious group, an entity constructed as a distillation of millions of different views and desires, popped into my head as I finished writing this. Consider that idea in your comments.

P.P.S. The final paragraph of Somewhere Over the Sun is like a song I never want to stop listening to. It’s worth reading for that paragraph alone.