"I don't know, I guess sometimes I wonder."

"About?"

"What you were just saying about artists. Like, yeah, I know, they all think they're challenging society and pushing us forward and all that..."

"But..."

"But I don't know, I just ... like there's this George Carlin routine where he's saying that Mother Nature had to have a reason to put humans on the earth. And at the end of the bit he decides it's for plastic. She invented humans because for some reason she needed plastic. That was the big plan."

"Ok. I don't know that one."

"Well, whatever. It's fine. But sometimes I wonder why we have artists. What they're even here to do. Like, they're not the ones overthrowing corrupt governments, or inventing vaccines, or teaching kids, or policing our streets."

"Well it's not *not* them. I mean, an artist could do any of those things."

"Yeah, but do they? Do they really? Artists have built this aura of mystery around themselves, like they push society forward by their mere presence. Like that their art somehow transcends all that. But I guess I'm not so sure. I see people wrapped up in their own heads and making nice things. But pushing society forward? I don't know. I don't think I see it."

"What about great works of literature?"

"Ok, maybe writers. Because their output is already in the right format to change things. You can take a well written piece, get it in front of a congressman, and actually affect change."

"To Kill a Mockingbird?"

"Yeah. Yeah, that's a good example. Ok, so writers, some of them. Not many, but point taken. Writers get to affect change. But honestly. Paintings? Sculpture? Like, collage?"

"Ok, what about music?"

"Oh. Damn it."

"Ah ha, got you. So that's two exceptions."

"Well, actually ... I don't know if I agree. Because musicians influence with their words. It's not the way it's sung, or the chords on the guitar that can make change. That's just window dressing."

"Oh man, I disagree. It's all about the feel of the song."

"No, no, I agree with that. I just mean, like, have any laws been passed because of how a song felt?"

"Maybe some..."

"Ok, laws that actually pushed society forward, not, like, indecency laws or something."

"Hmm. Yeah, I dunno."

"Whereas lyrics? Definitely. Lyrics can hit hard, and I can totally imagine a world where lyrics affect change. Not just in the 60's, either. Basically it's all the influence of the writer but if you put it to a good beat, the words can impact that much more."

"Yeah. Yeah. I can see that. Ok. So. Where does that leave us? Mother nature put writers on earth in order to ..."

"I don't know. Mostly it's just entertainment. But yeah, sometimes someone slips through and changes minds. I'll grant you that. But you know what everyone else is?"

"What? A waste?"

"Not a total waste, but yeah. Kinda. Here's what I think of most artists, in the long scope of history. They're mile markers."

"Mm? How so?"

"Like, you flip through art history books and there are eras, right? You can tell the difference between 70's architecture, 80's, 90's, all of it. Fashion in the 20's is obviously different than the 40's. Right?"

"Sure..."

"So I think artists are here as mile markers. As much as they think they're changing the world around them, I think they're just dogearing pages of history. So we can look back and say "ah yes, that art was clearly from the early 21st century. Artists are merely colorful historians."

"Oh man, Claire would be so mad to hear you say that."

"Let her be mad. Look, historians are important. We need people to track what happened, to say I was here and here's how it felt. And it's not just in time. Every time an artist has their heart broken, or experiences envy, jealousy, regret, embarrassment, whatever ... it's the great trick of the mind that they can feel it so deeply, in such an all-encompassing way, that they think no one could ever have felt the way they do in that moment."

"Yeah, but we all do that, don't we?"

"Yeah, but it's the artist that decided to make, quote-unquote, great art from it. And those are mile markers of their own. From Shakespeare to Kanye, the human experience hasn't actually changed. Love someone, it falls apart, blah blah blah, and artists dutifully record it for all of us. For us to look and relate, and say 'yeah. I've been there. I know how it feels.'"

"So there's nothing unique, everything's pre-determined?"

"Nah, I'm not talking about fate or anything mystical like that. It's all chemicals firing. Attraction? Chemicals. Depression? Chemicals. The happiest day you've ever experienced? All chemicals. But you know what the difference between the artist and everyone else is?"

"What?"

"The artist can't shut up about it. And good for them. If they wouldn't stop talking about how they're changing the world, blah blah blah, I'd appreciate their role. They're marking their human experience so the rest of us don't feel so alone. They're the colorful historians that explain what it is to love, to breathe, to live, to die... they're helping us understand what it is to be human."

"That's ... yeah. I like that."

"I just wish they'd stop thinking they're somehow changing the world. They're not. Just documenting it. Nothing more, nothing less. It's nothing. But when you're lost, grasping in the dark for something to relate to, that little flash of brilliance can be everything. It can take your breath away."