I know i’m just shouting to the void and that no one will ever read this. But maybe one day someone will, and it will resonate with them and it will help them. I’m not going to advertise this blog because my own self-esteem issues prevent that. I’m getting better but it’s still an uphill struggle.
You see, it’s not cool to be a nerd or a geek and most people look down on roleplayers and gamers as being ‘lesser people.’ I’ve drawn a lot of inspiration from Wil Wheaton (Hi Wil, you’ll never see this, but I want to say how very much I admire and respect you, dude. I’d love to shake your hand one day and say ‘thank you’ but I doubt that will ever happen). Wil never wanted to be an actor as he was growing up and it took him into his adult years before he felt able to immerse himself in his passion, writing. For me, I always wanted to be an actor, but my parents weren’t (and still aren’t, really) supportive of me doing this. They still keep asking me when i’m going to come home and get a real job and leave all this silliness behind. Because, for them, success is measured in material things. When I was earning money, I was ‘successful’, no matter that my job would have sent me to an early grave through stress and god knows what. My outlet was my weekly Vampire; the Masquerade game. This is where I could unleash my creativity, my outlet of stress, where I could scream against the void and make sense of my life.
Roleplaying saved my life. ACTING saved my life. I mean this literally. It allowed me to lessen my stress that would ultimately have led to a heart attack. Acting made me the happiest i’ve ever been. In front of a camera or on stage and i’m a different person. This fire in my heart and soul is palpable. You can almost see it. I radiate.
I want to inspire people too. I want people to look at me and say “if he can do it, I can do it!” and go and follow their dreams! Yes!
‘We are the music-makers and we are the dreamers of dreams” said Willy Wonka in the 1971 movie, which was a line from the poem, ‘Ode’ by Arthur O’Shaughnessy
We are the music makers,
And we are the dreamers of dreams,
Wandering by lone sea-breakers,
And sitting by desolate streams;—
World-losers and world-forsakers,
On whom the pale moon gleams:
Yet we are the movers and shakers
Of the world for ever, it seems
So yes, we are the music makers, we are the dreamers of dreams. Art, in whatever form, whether it’s writing, painting, drawing, singing, playing an instrument, acting, whatever is something that every society, from the dawn of time, has seen. Original cave paintings, thousands and thousands of years old, are artworks. Songs go back thousands of years, some of which are created to make sense of, or highlight, contemporary situations. See these five children’s nursery rhymes for examples.
Art is a basic instinct that humanity has. It transcends all divides. Religious, political, cultural, national and so on. Art is essential to help society. It’s used by the consumers to unwind, to make sense of their lives, to relieve stress, and so on. People like watching others worse off than them because it helps them feel like they aren’t in an untenable position. People like watching others better off than them because it helps with their aspirations. And people like seeing others go through problems and come out the other side having beaten the problem, or ‘won’, or otherwise succeeded, because it gives them hope.
This is where I come in. As I’ve said for years, i want to help people by playing a role that is suffering from some issue and then come out the other side of it having bested it, and for people to watch me and say that if I can do it, they can do it. YES! Whatever it is. If you want to be an actor, a musician, a writer, whatever, you can do it! The only thing stopping you… is YOU! DO IT! I believe in you! I want you to succeed, because if you succeed, we all succeed. Society needs the music makers. Society needs the dreamers of dreams.
We are the movers and shakers.
Much love to you, reader. Go do the thing!
Damien Gerard 