Telling Stories

Sting tells the story of rediscovering his muse. The muse is telling the story of others. I have been wondering how we balance the concern we have with Social Media portraying a one sided impression of the smiley happy side of life. The trouble is we want to know about the difficulties people face. But perhaps we want to know in a way that doesn't have a call to action. Through 'Big News', we are fascinated by war and trauma. Through art, we are moved. Sting the story teller tells the story of a shipyard worker fearing the loss of his job. We are moved. We don't have to do anything though. When someone on Social Media tells us of their fight with their partner, or a break up, or the loss of a job, or just that they are unhappy... it makes us feel like we should do something. It highlights the distance between us or the fact that our connection is quite loose. I am not proposing that people start sharing their traumas with the wide world. We know that doesn't work. But hopefully the way artists like Sting move us, we will find our own call to action in helping someone somewhere.