Imagine, and be an artist in 2012 and beyond

Imagine a world in which its leaders talk about space exploration, about new supersonic commercial planes, about cheaper gasoline, or even about new energy source. Imagine a world in which success is not measured by money, and in which weapons sales is not the most lucrative business. Imagine a world without capitalism and communism. Imagine a world without hedge funds and credit default swaps.

Imagine a world in which you are not told that you must consume and be obedient. Imagine a world without United States of America and European Union. How about the world in which George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and Condoleezza Rice are serving life sentences for war crimes. Imagine a world in which banks are regulated and all corporate banksters are in prison.

Imagine a world in which former colonial powers return everything they stole to their rightful owners. And they take back their dirty technology.

Imagine a world in which Palestine exists instead of Israel. Imagine a world in which you would be allowed to say this without fear of prosecution.

Imagine a world in which Iran recognizes Israel and Jews and Palestinians live in country without walls.

Imagine a world in which Bradley Manning and Julian Assange are given Nobel Prize for a peace. Imagine a world with Walmart goods manufactured in USA. Imagine a world in which Gary Kildall is CEO of Microsoft.

Imagine a world in which you actually talk to people, instead of texting them.

Imagine a world in which rare metals are mined in USA again.

Imagine a world in which our cultures didn't engage in a Faustian bargain, in which we trade our genius and artistry for stability.

Imagine a world in which great power really means great responsibility. Imagine a world in which Chinese president is chosen by common Chinese people.

Imagine a world in which Barack Obama keeps his word. Imagine a world in which this same president talks to Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, Raul Castro, Kim Jong-un and Hugo Chavez.

Imagine a world in which residents of country called United States Of America can freely travel to Cuba.

Imagine a world without Guantanamo Bay.

Imagine a world in which Japan apologizes to China for WWII crimes and Nanjing.

Imagine a world in which someone from Busan boards a train and goes to Beijing.

Imagine a world in which you won't be called a leftist because you care about others.

Imagine a world in which you won't be called a right wing assh...ole because you tell hard, cold truth.

Imagine a world without walls.

Imagine a world without fear.

You can also imagine a world in which we as species, have been replaced by apes.

There are so many imagines I could write about.

All of these things might sound like a dream, but in many cases dreams come true. All of us witnessed first changes in our world, from Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, Yemen, Israel, Libya, Portugal, Greece, UK, USA, Canada. The protesters started a global wave of dissent.

These protesters belong to young generation, and this young generation is awakening. They want to send people to Mars, they don't want a war with Iran. They want to make nuclear fusion usable. They want to build a world that might resemble Gene Roddenberry's vision.

They don't care about reality TV shows and mainstream media 'news'. They are engaged into real issues.

The world we grew up with is a mess. It's falling apart at the seams and a lot of people I care about are in pain because the things we thought would work don't. Every day I meet people who have so much to give but have been bullied enough or frightened enough to hold it back. They have become victims, pawns in a senseless system that uses them up and undervalues them.

It is time to stop complying with the system and draw your own map. Stop settling for what is good enough and start creating art that matters. Stop asking what's in it for you and start giving gifts that change people. Then, and only then, you will have achieve your potential. And all of us will get the world we dream about.

It is the end of 2011, and for more than 250 years, we've been seduced, scammed, and brainwashed into fitting in, following instructions, and exchanging a day's work for a day's pay. That era has come to an end and just in time.

You have brilliance in you, your contribution is valuable, and the art you create is precious. Only you can do it, and you must. I'm hoping you'll stand up and choose to make a difference.

There will be a day when your kids will ask you: "What did you do when the world was changing?"

Be an artist in 2012 and beyond.

Christmas Cards

Ever since we've got all the computer technology, and ever since we've become more technologically advanced, I've been getting less and less postcards. "We", in this context, are these lonely people from this lonely and amazing planet, a species that has become proud of all advancements that we have achieved.

There has been this great digital divide that has produced uber lazy humans. They want to do everything just by "clicking" once or twice, without much thinking. They hide behind their desktops, laptops, netbooks, playbooks and who knows how are all these other new devices called.

We've become amused to death again, 26 years after Neil Postman said that in his book, this time we've become stupefied to death.

Where are the interesting questions? They are gone too - beside postcards and Christmas cards extinction, questions became extinct too - nobody is asking interesting questions anymore. That means there are no interesting answers. Or better to say there are no answers at all. Everybody asks questions that they can "google", and after they click once in their browser they'll get their answers. That's why I challenge everyone to ask me a question I cannot google, or to be more precise, to ask me an interesting question that Google won't answer well. When I ask humans this question about asking this interesting question, I usually get a smile, and a bit of confusion, and than a question:"How am I going to ask you that??"

Uber lazy humans stopped thinking and all what is left are mediocre questions. OK, to be fair, in many instances I am one of these uber lazy humans, as I use google algorithms to get what I need. This is about being effective and efficient.

Still, I send my postcards and my Christmas cards. Every time when I am travelling I look for postcards, I buy them, I write couple of sentences there and send them to humans that matter to me. I love them deeply because if they were not there, I wouldn't have anyone to send those postcards.

And then, sometime in every November, I go and buy Christmas cards. I choose them carefully, some of them only have 'holiday' greeting, as some of people I love don't celebrate Christmas. I buy the cards, and I feel them in my hands - they are tangible, they have their weight, texture, scent...They are alive, they are more than sets of zeros and ones. Later at home, I write to people I love. I write couple of sentences to each one of them - I always want them to know that I think about them and that I am thankful that I can write to them.

Since I started doing this, and that was a long time ago, the number of Christmas cards I write to people I love every year is smaller. Some of people I loved left this lonely and amazing world, and their addresses were not reachable anymore. Certainly there were other new people who I started loving in the meantime. I hope there will be more new people I love than people who leave.

All of their addresses are written in my brain. I remember them all. When I write the addresses on the postcards, it feels as I am there, at their far destinations. I see their faces too, people that I love, and I always imagine how their faces will look like when they get my postcards and my Christmas cards. It will be something different, not that advanced, I know, and perhaps they'll have to abandon their digital gadgets for a little bit to read couple of sentences written by a real pen, with a real hand, that come from a real heart.

People ask me why I write my postcards and my Christmas cards. I say:"If you could take my youth and hold it in your hand...you would understand".

(At the end I want to pay a tribute to humans who are not lazy and who are aware. You know who these people are).