'give a damn!'

i've been visiting my father a few time each week at his new residence, a full-care facility for dementia patients. the disease has progressed, but not so far as to render me unrecognizable, and so we talk a lot about each of our childhoods, what we learned there, what we loved, who are friends and family were and why they were so important, and a lot about why we're here at all. so i showed him this quote, which is by wayne coyne of the flaming lips:

"I think it's much better to do things that are interesting and hope that they work, rather than trying to do stuff that's been done already, and if it's not successful, we all fucking lose."

that about sums up the overall goal of being an artist. the difficulty lies not in doing something that hasn't been done before, but in making it work. i marvel at how a lot of our friends are capable of achieving this goal and how much better it makes the world, or, at least the world i live in; so much so that, once again, i have to say to myself, "lucky me".

and it makes my dad's new slogan (the title of this missive, which he'd like to see made into a bumper sticker) sort of pertinent to this post. in order to achieve any of the things mr. coyne describes, you have to at least give a damn about yourself, your life and the world around you. so please try, for my dad's sake, to give a damn. i will keep you posted on the bumper stickers.

love,

joe