In times like these, I often wonder if the greatest service I can do my future children is preventing them from being born in the first place. (Yes, I’m aware that’s a dramatic way to say I’m sure about having kids.)
Austin Kleon is someone to whom I’ve turned time and time again for wisdom about leading a creative life. In the past year, I’ve been taken with the ways he talks about parenting.
This recent post on his blog was especially profound:
“[Our kids will] start knowing how insane the world is soon enough. For now, let them play. And if it all goes bad in the future and they have to fight over a can of beans in an abandoned grocery store, they will remember what life can be like. That knowledge is important. It’s knowledge that artists give us: They don’t just show us what life is, they show us what it can be.”
joshua chamberlain 