“Because people have begun to lose their hopes and forget their dreams. So, the Nothing grows stronger.”
The Neverending Story (1984)
This is exactly why speculative fiction is important
This is why taking a break for downtime is important
This is why being able to daydream and wander, is important
Without hope and dreams, we can’t even consider that a better world is possible
And that is exactly the point of overworking and underpaying us.
Michael Ende, who wrote The Neverending Story, also wrote Momo, where the villains are little grey men who convince you to “save time” by cutting out everything fun and meaningful in your life. But you never get the saved time back, the little men smoke it.
When I agreed with someone who said “art makes us human,” THIS is the kind of thing I was trying to express.
I understand now that “makes us HUMAN” is a berserk button for a lot of people who have been told being neurodivergent makes them less human.
But this is the thing. It’s not that people who like books, or movies, or fantasy, or writing, or painting are more evolved than people who “just sit around and do math” or something.
Nah. (Lots of art is very mathy! As it should be!)
It’s that part of what art does is help us to maintain hope for ourselves and others, and that’s something we need, even if it’s not obviously necessary for survival like food and water are.
