Empathy is a superpower.
Unfortunately, most people possess it through struggle and suffering.
Personally, I was taught the concept, and then had its value ground into me over the past 27 years.
My wife Jessie, (who is amazing,) introduced me to empathy early in our relationship, because I was definitely self-absorbed as a younger person.
(Many are.)
When men and women work together, and pull in the same direction, incredible things can happen.
That should not be such a radical statement, yet in 2024, it is, as both genders have largely retreated to opposite corners of a combat sports ring.
Incels and cat moms.
(Or so the media would have us believe.)
The idea that each gender can learn from the other, (in this binary exercise, as these days there are multiple genders,) is controversial, because the current political winds make it easy to hate on men for everything that we are.
Sure, counter-reactions are out there too, in the guise of your Andrew Tates, and Harrison Butkers, but those guys are just MAGA cartoons.
They have as much a chance of influencing actual women as does El Chewbacca, speaking in some strange Spanish-Wookie dialect.
We all know that 2024 feels like tribes screaming at each other, across some muddy battlefield, each dug into a trench that smells like feet.
It’s so clear, people actually brag about their impermeability to new information.
(A classy relative, denigrating me on the phone this week, actually said I should save my breath, as advocating for myself was the equivalent of talking to a wall. Direct quote.)
But what was my point today?
I began with empathy, because I’ve received so much of it since I published the last few super-honest blogs.
Lots of good people reached out, via phone, email, FB, IG, and text message, to share that they were going through similar things.
They told me they knew how I felt.
They wished me well.
And each time, for at least a few moments, I felt better.
Knowing I was not alone.
Knowing the larger forces that have subjugated the creative classes are real.
Just yesterday, during a long call with an artist friend, (which was spurred on by the blog,) he actually listed all the things that had to go wrong, simultaneously, to put this many people out of work.
I was aware, but hearing it recited made the struggle seem more comprehensible.
We empathized with each other.
Two masculine guys, supporting each other in a traditionally feminine way.
Both of us Dads.
Both of us husbands.
Both of us artists.
Both of us believing we deserved better than we were getting, and trying to help the other figure out what it would take to break out of the industry-wide malaise.
All because of Sunshine and Olly.
I’m not exaggerating.
The support has been great.
But it’s also instructive to see who doesn’t reach out.
Who doesn’t want to help.
Which people I thought were my friends, but really, they dumped me as soon as I lost my powerful position in the photo world.
Are there people who have chosen not to empathize?
Not to help?
Sure, and they must know I keep receipts.
But that’s negative thinking, and I don’t want to be a hater.
One friend wrote me from Europe yesterday, (during travels,) to specifically will me out of my soul sadness. To directly try to inspire me to make visual art again.
Not subtle.
And would you believe it worked?
I picked up the camera, because I had a playful idea, and several people had recommended I rediscover play lately.
Sure enough, the camera battery was dead.
So was the backup.
Still, I persevered, and charged the damn battery.
Waited 10 minutes, and made my first art photographs of 2024.
Partly, it was because one artist, (who recommended play,) also reminded me we need to be sharp, for when the real project introduces itself.
Don’t be afraid to make bad stuff, or at least not-great stuff, to make sure the art muscles are strong when they’re needed.
Such great advice.
(Thanks, Jason!)
So let me try to land the plane here.
If you are able to help the people you care about, the people you admire, the people who’ve helped you…
… that positive energy continues to flow through the Universe.
Do the good deed, if you can.
Open your heart to other kind people.
Let’s see how much of a difference we can make?
Sunshine and Olly 
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