How many ARTISTS are there in the room?

Just started reading Daniel Pink's best-seller : A Whole New Mind. There is a wonderful anecdote in one of the chapters on 'Design'.

Gordon MacKenzie, a longtime creative force at hallmark Cards, often visited schools to give talks about his profession. He'd open each talk by telling students he was an artist. he'd then look around the classroom, notice the artwork on the walls, and wonder aloud who created the masterpieces.

"How many artists are there in the room?" MacKenzie would ask. 'Would you please raise your hands?"

The responses always followed the same pattern. In kindergarten and first-grade classes, every kid thrust a hand in the air. In second-grade classes, about three-fourths of the kids raised their hands though less eagerly. In third grade, only a few children held up their hands.

And by the sixth grade, not a single hand went up. The kids just looked around to see if anybody in the class would admit to what they'd now learned was deviant behaviour!!

Perhaps, it's even more true in our culture. There is a touch of sarcasm in most people when they say - "Yeh toh thoda artist types hai", "Artist hai bhai, isko duniyadaari kya aayegi", "Chhor do yaar, yeh artist log aisen hi hote hain"... Emphasising that the creative, the artist is a deviant.

Society still collectively conspires to pull down the many raised hands in kindergarten grade one and later...

Therefore, I was thrilled when my wife asked Neo(my 5 year old son) the other day while he was painting- "Aur tum kaun ho?". And he smugly said - "Main artist hoon"...I hope he always raises his hand...