What do you think

I’ve always wondered how people know what is good.

I don’t mean good and evil type good.  I mean good movies, good books, good looks.

Obviously some of it is simply preference and some of it is giving over the decision to a person who appears better qualified to make that decision, but there are an awful lot of people who don’t seem to think about it like I do.   They appear to “know” right away what is good and what is not.

I am never absolutely sure anything I do will be perceived as good or worthy.  In fact I am often at odds with judgments on my own work.  What I think is truly good can be dismissed by other people without even a wink in my direction and what I think is good, but not my best can be lauded beyond my understanding.

This is one of the more disturbing parts of creating anything I think, trying to figure out where that line is drawn and how.  Sometimes I wish there was a list of absolutes for excellence and there is, but it surely isn’t long enough because, as far as I can figure out, it is mostly technical.  The interesting part is never really defined so that I can understand it.

I suppose that is the difference between artists and others.  The artist just does what they do no matter what.  Emily Dickinson wrote poetry.  Musicians play their music even when no one is listening.  Van Gogh kept on painting.  Writers keep on writing.

Maybe the real gauge is not what other’s think but what I think... but that opens a whole new set of thoughts.