You likely have a hotdog in one hand, and a beer in the other. To you I say “please hand me a hotdog, and also a sip of your beer but I’ll take a lemonade instead if you’ve got some.” Perhaps your family honors our fallen and is visiting them or their memories. To you, I say “thank you.”

I hope whatever it is you do, that today you make something. It doesn’t have to be a masterpiece. But my wish is that sometime this week, you’ll share something that before you did not exist.

Cookies, scribbles, a song, a parody, an article or poem, a dance to your favorite song, whatever calls to you. There’s something about the creative process that fulfills us in ways that consuming never can. It can seem daunting, but it doesn’t have to be. Use your body and your brain together in some way that pleases you more than shutting them down to watch or read something could. Even if you don’t share it, it’s important to have tried.

Unsure where to start?

1. Take a movie that disappointed you and write a scathing article about it or rewrite the parts that went off the rails.
2. Draw a scene from your favorite song or book.
3. A little handy? Find something in your home that bothers you every time you go to use it or pass it by and Google alternatives to it.
4. Put on a song and just dance to it.
5. Take your favorite song and try to make a mash up or cover that changes the meaning it has.

It’s important, because you’re important, and your views are important. It’s important because there is pride in owning a new thought, and often times new thoughts encourage more new thoughts, which can lead to growth or at the very least break a bad cycle.

For example, I wrote a whole thing about how sad this holiday is and how awful things are.

And then I stopped.

You know, or you should know about all that. It’s not new, and as always, we need to keep fighting. But the picnics and cookouts, the art we choose and the time for self we take are also vital. If I want to honor our soldiers, if I want to help protect my fellow countrymen, I cannot avoid how prevalent depression and suicide is. If I want to help counteract it, let’s not forget that from pain, we can create. From a sense of self, we can give to others, we can build something new as we destroy the old. A future will not make itself when we tear the past down. We must make it, and we must dream better dreams to do so. That’s our job.

And so, as you value yourself, eat a damn hotdog, thank those who gave everything they had, and make something we can share in our new future. Know that I see and care about you so very much!