2025-01-16
tags: none
Words: 332 (1 minutes to read)
(This is entry 71 of #100DaysToOffload)
It is strange how disproportionate the acts of creating and of consuming are.
With food for instance, where the metaphor comes from, the production of food requires the sowing of seed, possibly transplanting of young plants (like leeks, though I imagine it's possible to sow them in situ), then regular maintenance for pests or disease (like rust, in the case of a leek), as well as watering, for about half the year, until finally it is ready for harvest.
Then, what does it take to eat a leek? Cut it up, chuck it in a soup, have it for dinner. Easy!
In terms of media, it is similar. A Youtube video takes a good amount of time to produce often, with a day or more of editing, as well as research, etc. A book takes years to write, with each word, sentence, slaved over. Every metaphor, joke, call forward or call back, reference, pun, simile, metaphor, assonance, consonance, allusion, whatever, has been meticulously crafted. I wouldn't even know how to write in that manner. A couple days and the book is read.
In a song, each part has been worked over and over to make it sound good and go with the other instruments, and the lyrics need writing too! A typical song is over within five minutes.
Many of us consume passively: I am listening to music as I write, for instance. Many watch Netflix or TV as they work.
When trying to create, the sheer difficulty of the task becomes known. What sounds like not-very-much-at-all on the guitar, like a barre chord, can take months of practice. It takes full decades to get to a point that is clearly skilled. You may have committed years to a pursuit, and still look like a novice.
In our modern world, consumption is so easy; content, and media are so plentiful, so abundant. You can't get out of bed without ... well, how did the bed there? Case in point.
To produce is much more challenging; yet also much more rewarding.