I have decided to close down my DA gallery. I haven't really been around here much lately anyways. This year has been a very challenging one for me, but also one of awakening. I'm starting to finally figure things out. It feels good, exciting, and also daunting.

The older I get I notice two kinds of change. First there is the inevitable change in the world around me, the progress of the human race, as every tomorrow becomes today. The second kind of change is in myself, and how my understanding of static concepts and ideas shifts as my past accumulates. We are told that we will understand when we get older, when we grow up. If anything in this world was ever true, it was those cliche statements. What is ironic about it is that we didn't even understand what it is that would change in us to make it possible for us to see the same things in different ways. Maybe it's because at some point words fail, their definitions are fallible because we, as people, invented them. But we didn't invent our emotions, we didn't invent any of the concepts that exist today, we have simply only invented ways to define them, to find some way to show each other that we are all on the same page. That to me, is what art is. It is something that goes beyond the fallibility of man and his inevitably imperfect inventions to show what is truly authentic. You know it when you see it, when you experience it. Art is indefinable by definition! The irony is spectacularly beautiful in that.

I don't know everything, and I hope it stays that way, even as I devour more and more knowledge in my search for truth, which could be interchangeable with freedom. I have spent my whole life waiting for the moment that I could just be myself. I am rather harmless. I love people, I love life, and I know I am authentic. I know I am not the only person out there like me, that thinks like me, that desires the same things that I do. I just have to find a way to bring it out in people, to gain their trust. It is a risky situation, but there is a science to it. It is the science of it all that I am finally figuring out. These static concepts we hear about our entire lives; sacrifice, freedom, truth, knowledge - their meanings change as we inevitably add more experiences to our past. That is what is so exciting about life, and if you stick around long enough to begin to see that, to experience the shift, thats half the battle.

When you look at the actions of other people, try to understand the why. It's so important. The weak man's argument will first go after the character of the person. You can tell a weak argument right off the bat that way. Its a trick, and quite a well working one too. Its one of the oldest tricks in the books. But you have your own mind, use it! Ask questions! Ask why! There are only two ways to "win" a conversation or argument with someone. One is to come out of it with more knowledge than you had before. The second is to give the other person more knowledge than they had before. And what they do with it is their decision. I have faith that if people are given the truth, and it comes from a trustworthy source, they will listen. The truth is always there, thats the easy part. Communicating it is the hard part, how will you get people to listen, and more importantly, to trust what you say? That is where sacrifice comes in. The next time you see someone who is willing to get arrested, to sacrifice some of their freedom, to tell you something, in the off chance you will listen, consider why they are doing it. The weak mans argument will use the person character to deter the message. The strong man asks why and thinks for himself.

That is all I can tell you for now. I have to find my own way to show the world that I am authentic, that I have a lust for life that is stronger because I embrace my emotions, they are what makes me human. I am not afraid of my imperfections, I am not afraid of my flaws.

Soon I will delete this account, and then well, thats that. I am still around, but I am entering a period of hibernation. I have some studying to do. But I wont be back on DA. I can only hope I made a good impression here, that I left something behind.