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In a world where there are millions living in poverty and children are going hungry a group who believe that we should be donating and helping those in need, ask the rest of the world, is art a waste of time? The Effective Altruists, as they call themselves, believe that art is useless and a waste of time when there are people suffering and in need. Though there are those who may agree with the EA’s, many, including myself, believe that art has the power to transform us, as humans, from within. Benjamin Zander, a musical composer of the Boston Philharmonic, appeared on TED talk “How Does Music Transform Us?,” where he talks about how he has witnessed classical music pieces affecting audience members in such a prominent way he was even able to reach a seventh grade audience.  Zander points out that while maybe not everyone listens to classical music, when heard it can have the power to transform us as individuals. He wholeheartedly believes that this art form has such an impact on people that he can see their eyes shining. It really is true when you  touch someone with any form or type of art that may speak to that individual, you can see it in their eyes and face. Why the EA’s don’t think that art can change the world is just baffling to me. I get that they think everyone should be doing more to help end poverty and world hunger, but that doesn’t mean we should stop being creative and using art to make the world aware of these issues. That is why when presented with the question, “is art a waste of time,” I cannot just simply say no as it becomes a much bigger, and more in-depth issue of not only how it is not a waste of time, but how we can use art to transform lives and promote change.

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In a world where there are millions living in poverty and children are going hungry a group who believe that we should be donating to and helping those in need, ask the rest of the world, is art a waste of time? The Effective Altruists, as they call themselves, believe that art is useless and a waste of time when there are people suffering and in need. Though there are those who may agree with the EA’s, many, including myself, believe that art has the power to transform us, as humans, from within. Benjamin Zander, a musical composer of the Boston Philharmonic, appeared on TED talk “How Does Music Transform Us?” where he talks about how he has witnessed classical music pieces affecting audience members in such a prominent way he was even able to reach a seventh-grade audience.  That is why when presented with the question, “is art a waste of time,” I cannot just simply say no as it becomes a much bigger, and more in-depth issue of not only how it is not a waste of time, but how we can use art to transform the lives of individuals that are suffering and promote change to make individuals more aware of these issues surrounding us.

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If you really think about it, there are many different ways in which we can use art to transform and change peoples lives. As the saying goes “a picture’s worth a thousand words,” which can not only apply to, of course, a picture, but to many different art forms like film-making, music, painting, drawing, photography, anything you can think of honestly. The power any of these listed can have to move or touch someone is amazing to witness. Specifically discussed in Zander’s TED talk, he relays a story of how he was performing a piece, done by Chopin, in Ireland during the Troubles for a group of street kids in which he was working on conflict resolution with. He goes on to say, “And one of them came to me the next morning and he said, “You know, I’ve never listened to classical music in my life, but when you played that shopping piece … He said, “My brother was shot last year and I didn’t cry for him. But last night, when you played that piece, he was the one I was thinking about. And I felt the tears streaming down my face. And it felt really good to cry for my brother.” So I made up my mind at that moment that classical music is for everybody. Everybody.” This really stuck out to me because the fact that this Chopin piece that Zander played reached a child made it evident that not only is classical music for everyone, but that art can move and change people in ways they may not even know. If art was a so called “waste of time,” do you think that this child would have ever had the chance to mourn for the death of his own brother? Or would he have just continued on in his life bottling up his true feelings? Maybe if the EA’s weren’t so quick to judge and say that art is a waste of time, they could open their eyes and see that they could use art to help promote their cause and make the rest of the world aware of how many are really in need. Sometimes just seeing a simple picture or short video can cause a spark inside of us. art plays such an important role in our society that it will never be viewed as a waste of time. People use art everyday to promote what they are passionate about and what they believe in. 

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While Southan states in his essay that the EA’s believe that art doesn’t have the means to help a suffering life, Zander retaliates in his TED talk about how he helped an underprivileged child who was suffering from a traumatic event in his life. Specifically discussed in Zander’s TED talk, he relays a story of how he was performing a piece, done by Chopin, in Ireland during the Troubles for a group of street kids in which he was working on conflict resolution with. He goes on to say that the morning after he had performed the piece, one of the children came up to him and said  “You know, I’ve never listened to classical music in my life, but when you played that shopping piece … He said, “My brother was shot last year and I didn’t cry for him. But last night, when you played that piece, he was the one I was thinking about. And I felt the tears streaming down my face. And it felt really good to cry for my brother.” Zander said he knew that after that moment classical music was for everybody. This really stuck out to me because the fact that this Chopin piece that Zander played reached a child made it evident that not only is classical music for everyone, but that art can help transform a suffering life in ways they may not even know. As Southan states, the EA’s believe art is just an indulgence for the wealthy, but if art was a so-called “waste of time,” do you think that this child would have ever had the chance to mourn for the death of his own brother? Or would he have just continued on in his life bottling up his true feelings and suffering through the pain of a lost life? 

These changes to my two paragraphs have really helped to shape the essay into something much better than what it originally was. I think it gives more depth to my argument and supports my thesis much more than before.