I have seen firsthand how art and music transform our capacity to love and forgive. I have seen children and teenagers who have been hurt by the parents, relatives, and caregivers who are supposed to protect, love, and nurture them. These young people reach down to a depth of their soul and pull up creative poems, music, and lyrics that allow them to release the pent-up frustrations they don’t understand but, know in their spirit are not right. It gives them strength to move forward, and not be deterred by their circumstances. When people are mentored by folks who see the bottled-up talents in them, are patient, loving, and kind, it helps them grow and flourish. This allows the capacity to forgive those who hurt them, with their art and music. It makes for a better them and a better us.

The positive values art and music should communicate to the world are first, that we are all one people, humans no matter what! We must continue to strive for the best in ourselves and others. People often believe that art is painting, drawing, and sculpting. Let us remember the definition of ART; art is a noun that means something that is created with imagination and skill.

We seem to forget the art of loving with purity, simplicity, and honesty. The art of preparing a great meal for family and friends. The art of being a good friend, listener, and parent. The art of being a good person, a kind person expecting only a “Thank you” and a “Pay it forward with your artistic talent.”

Ahh, music! It is the rhythmic beat of our connected souls. It matters not the genre; when we find the beat of the song, we are one with the music. These are the positive values we ought to be passing along for generations to come.

My creative life values continue to transform me constantly as I move through the different phases of my life. I had been transformed as a mother when I did not realize just how creative I could be in loving a teenager for testing me, learning to trust his judgment to make the right choices, because we made the right and not-so-right choices for him along the way. My creative life transforms me as a wife of several decades, learning to keep me fresh, and us fresh. We laugh, debate, and pray. As a businesswoman who works with my husband, and that is no easy feat, to keep the creative juices flowing by not taking life seriously. “We are not coming out alive!”

I thought loving our son was the best. NOT! It gets better with grandchildren! My creative values have transformed with each of our four grandchildren, two boys and two girls. With the massive societal changes seemingly daily, I have to stay on top of my creative flow. As “Awah” is the first Mother of the Earth, I have to hold fast to my beliefs to be a solid Awah member of our life village, and pass along all I know for the next generation to grow.