Heroes Not Zombies

This is one of my favourite photos. I took it one evening in the Plaza de Ana in Madrid. In the middle of the square is this statue of the poet, Lorca. I had noticed some parts of the statue seemed highly polished, the consequence of the touch of thousands of hands over many years. I then noticed that lots of children seemed drawn to this statue.

Look at this little girl. How affectionate, how gentle, how delighted, she is, giving Lorca a cuddle.

How many statues have you seen where people, especially children, interact with it this way? Quite extraordinary. And the fact that this is a statue of an artist, a poet, playwright and composer makes this all the more wonderful.

To be fully human we need the creative arts in our lives.

If you’ve been reading my posts for a while you’ll be familiar with the theory of left and right hemisphere imbalance, (if you’re new here, hi, welcome! Put “hemisphere” into the search box, top right of the home page, and have a browse through what comes up).

We use our right hemisphere when we listen to music, when we read poetry and when we focus on the personal, so one way to get a better balance might be to read more poetry and listen to more music. And, hey, even if you don’t accept the hemisphere theory, I reckon you can still improve the quality of everyday life by setting aside some time to enjoy poetry and music.

Let’s celebrate our poets, musicians and artists. They change lives for the better. They help our society to be more human.