Are You a Critic or a Creative?

We cannot suffer the day to be ruled by the critics. Only the creatives can offer us an uncluttered path forward.

Are you a critic or a creative? The differences are vast.

The pandemic brought into clear focus these two divergent paths at the fork in the road to our future. 

If we are honest about the last year, it was likely a prominent temptation to be lazy, develop unhealthy sleep patterns, and overly-indulgent social media practices. Did you at any time during the pandemic find yourself becoming more critical of other people and organizations, even unfairly so?

The critic has honed the craft of making hasty and uncharitable assumptions. They are quick to pounce on their prey. I can’t tell you how many people I have spoken with who have expressed hesitancy and fear to even attempt to speak. The unchecked critic is to blame. 

The image in my mind of the critic is the person draped lazily on the sofa in sweatpants, scrolling, swiping, clicking, and negatively commenting in reaction to the latest news or post. No one ever gets it just right.

Scroll. React. Critique. Repeat the mind-numbing activity ad nauseam.

Proverbs 13:4 says, “The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing.” If you were to ask the critic what they desire, they can’t tell you because they don’t know. They just grumble, a path CS Lewis reminded us is the beginning of Hell in us.

The idle, slothful critic not only accomplishes nothing, but descends to a greater depth: they attack and criticize those who are making good faith efforts. 

I have grown weary of watching positive attempts be made in the realm of social media, only for a critic to jump in with a self-righteous correction or a hasty, uncharitable assumption. The publisher did not adequately nuance a comment or consider every human dimension to a problem. Don’t worry! The critic shall find the flaw. Discovering inadequacies and imperfections is the critic’s favorite pastime.

The critic has followers. These are foolish enough to applaud the sluggard’s destructive efforts. They “like” their criticism, chime in with affirmation, and share the critic’s piercing analysis with their own followers. They propagate the negativity and nothingness of slothful people who have dubbed themselves professional critics.

I have become a tad cynical of movie and restaurant critics, because I find that far too often, their judgments are consistently negative. Perhaps my taste buds are ill-refined, but I have often watched a movie deemed terrible by the critic, and found it delightful. A restaurant deemed unworthy of a visit, turned out to be quite enjoyable. 

Please do not hear that I am suggesting there is no place in our world for criticism. The Biblical prophets issued blistering criticism that needed to be heard. There is an abundance of injustice and distasteful offerings in the world that are worthy of an appropriate takedown. I myself need a regular dose of self-criticism to acknowledge my own shortcomings and ego.

“The idle, slothful critic not only accomplishes nothing, but descends to a greater depth: they attack and criticize those who are making good faith efforts. ”

I am suggesting that social media has aided the multiplication of judgmental critics who do not operate out of a deep well of virtue and constructive concern. They are dangerous because they are destructive and lead others astray. 

What is worse, they even discourage the very people we need to declutter the path before us: the creatives. It will take the creatives to unify our communities, to envision fresh ways of living, to break generational strongholds.

How sad would our world be if we allow the slothful, lazy, nasty, judgmental critic to discourage the creatives who can help us build a beautiful community.

The creative is the antithesis of the slothful critic.

The creative builds up. The critic ruthlessly tears down.

The creative is a positive force. The critic is a force of destruction.

The creative is a public servant. The critic is a public divider.

The creative is a risk taker (See 5 Reasons to Take a Risk in 2021). The critic is afraid to get on the ride.

The creative has fresh ideas. The critic pumps the brakes.

The creative is an innovator. The critic is the defender of the status quo.

The creative is not afraid of failure. The critic will never try.

The creative fills the world with beauty. The critic only sees flaws.

The creative inspires shy entrepreneurs. The critic robs the world of motivation.

The creative tackles generational injustices. The critic complains the effort is inadequate.

Theodore Roosevelt captures it this way: 

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

We cannot suffer the day to be ruled by the critics. Our future depends on the ingenuity of creatives who possess moral imagination.

The creatives need our encouragement. The critics need to be pulled aside and shown a better way.

The challenges of this world need creatives to be in the arena, marred with blood, sweat, and tears. As you stand at the fork in the road, scanning the landscape of a world in need of repair, I want to humbly ask you one question: Are you a critic or a creative?