Think about a piece of art that has impacted your life. Everyone has one. Maybe it’s that song that you dedicated to your best friend, or that painting that you’re really proud of, that poem you wrote, or maybe it’s that dance you performed and everyone loved, or even that part you got in the play. Whatever it may be, you know the feeling it brought you, and you know that it’s an unexplainable, unbelievable emotion. The beauty of art is that it has no definition, and that it is perceived different by all, it is what you want it to be, and because of this everyone can find themselves in some form of it; their little niche where they belong, where they can inspire, create, and express.

I recently met a famous photographer at a small art gallery in my hometown of Whittier, California. We had a conversation about how art has impacted both of our lives and I found it absolutely fascinating that although he is a photographer and I am a writer, our motive and desire to create was identical and we drew inspiration from very similar things. I then realized that artists must follow their heart in creating the obscure and indefinable, they must follow no standard but their own. I also realized that it is the artists’ duty to share their art with the world, to inspire all else and speak their language of passion, that is art. Art, in essence, is a language understood all over the world. Everyone understands the passion, even if they don’t understand the purpose; which is why we must preserve and diffuse our art. It is our most useful and effective weapon against hate, and if utilized correctly, it can refashion the rhythm of the world.

Despite the fact that all of us speak different languages, follow different beliefs, and have different ethnic backgrounds, art is the essential and only medium that unites us. Instead of forcing a political or religious ideology onto another culture, we first need to find a common ground, and build off settling our differences on the fact that art is love. We must embrace our similarities before refuting our distinctions. We are wasting our energy on promoting violence, making it seem more important than creativity. We should only be bleeding paint, shooting photographs, and breaking legs on stage.

In a world where hate and discrimination is too common and contagious, causing cancer on this earth, art is the only cure.