...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pJLKydXYj8

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A student asked me today: 

"Why are the best musicians

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so sad?" 

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Without thinking, I told him: 

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"It isn't just musicians, it's creatives - 

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Franz Kafka, wrote Metamorphosis

and was only published posthumously,

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super depressed;

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Vincent Van Gogh, infamously cut off his own ear

Yet painted The Starry Night, 

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one of the most-known masterpieces to date."

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It was here I got distracted - twelve year olds 

Filling the air with chatter - and I concluded without thinking: 

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"That's why so many creatives..." 

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paused, looking at an email

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"...are so..." 

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scrolling, looking for something

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"... sad."

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My co-teacher, John, chuckled as he wiped the board -  

I'd interrupted my own thought - and we both realized

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At around the same time, that this student likely asked me for a reason. 

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So I brought up Rob Zombie, who'd I'd listened to recently, 

John mentioned a concert, and I told this student 

About an old family friend. 

I said:

.

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"Metal heads, people that like heavy metal,

Are some of the calmest, most modest people 

I've ever met. Despite how angry and violent 

Their genre is, they get their anger out 

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Through their music 

So they don't have to carry it with them during the day." 

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The student smiled, nodded, John left -  

We're small rivals - and it appeared 

As though 

That morning's 

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throw-away kernel of wisdom 

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might've somehow 

done the trick. 

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