You know I have been playing the piano for a while now and when I was younger I asked my grandparents, "I thought about being a musician..." to which they replied, "Do not do that! Do something practical like medicine or even be a mechanic but never become a musician or artist since they never make money!" Now I did follow their advice as I am just finishing up my university career before heading on to medical school but in the back of my mind there was always this regret of not following this youthful dream.
Why is it that we care so damn much about a career being practical or making money these days? Obviously we could look at the obvious answer of living in a capitalist, materialist society but why is the arts considered non-practical? Many people who involved themselves in the arts created great works of art, architecture, music, etc. without thinking of the money they made. Some like Mozart even died without any honour given to him, being thrown in a grave and forgotten but his works of great music still live on and it would have been a tragedy if a person like Mozart, Beethoven, Michelangelo, Botticelli, etc. ever chose NOT to do the great works of art they invented. Of course if we were just like a Jєω (and indeed many people THINK Jєωιѕн especially in America and Britain) we could say that since the arts has no economic advantage no one should pursue them but if we were to use the idealistic attitude we would see that art serves a purpose and that is to draw people to beauty and majesty and to praise the names of those who created such works.