"The arts are not just a nice thing to have or to do if there is free time or if one can afford it.

Rather,
paintings and poetry, music, and fashion, design and dialogue, they all define who we are as a people
and provide an account of our history for the next generation"----Michelle Obama

Imagine a life without art.

A colorless, soundless, shapeless, tasteless abyss of what we would call "living". But that, in fact, is not
living. It is suffering. A life without art is in reality not a life at all. We all need art in our lives, and we'd
be lying by denying it.

Art, in its many forms, is a necessity of life. It is beneath the building structure of anything and
everything. A life and a world without art would be quiet and dull. Many people have continued to
desensitize art in its many forms because they believe it to be no longer important nor relevant to life.
Government and school systems have decreased the funding of the arts gradually more and more to the
point where most if not all the funding left is very scarce. Most of the funding now comes from
donations and fundraising efforts.

One major problem is that society does not recognize art as a fundamental need but rather, a hobby.
When many people hear "art" they immediately resort to fine art such as paintings or drawings. How
could just that be such a fundamental element of ourselves? It is essential for those ignorant to art in all
of its forms, (not just the kind you do for a hobby) be educated on the variety and its importance.

Art creates variety and difference in the world. It is not just a physical element but also a mental
element. Emotions and thought processes are caused by a momentum of creative thought. By
desensitizing the arts and causing more emphasis on the lesser important values rather that the
processes of art are paralyzing our minds and capability to be original.

Now, I'm not saying that the other factors taught and emphasized by the government and schools
should go away. Sports is a great example. The healthy competition that sports teach young people
offers great life skills needed later in life. But the arts should be something embraced and endorsed. Not
sought as a passing time activity. We should support all forms of art as they are so that we may learn to
use it to further our knowledge to better the world. The world without art would be a boring and sad
place to live. This is why we must encourage one another to discover a little deeper into the art of life
and all that it encompasses.