Tuesday, June 05, 2007

Creating and Consuming

After watching a TV interview with Jimmy Carter and understanding his illustrious career and impressive productivities (~150 pieces of furnitures, 21 books and counting, presidential career, etc.), I finally realize the differences between Consuming and Creating.


Jim Carter is a creator.


Our God is the Ultimate Creator. He created us to reflect His glory, and to be valuable in this world we have to create. When we read, study, and learn, we consume. I was initially so proud having able to read tough books, complex manuscripts, heavy articles, etc. But in the end if I cannot convert those information into knowledge and create something out of them, I am a mere consumer. To actually add value, we have to create, not stopping at consume.

So read your books, but don't stop there. Observe the world, but don't stop there. Think and reflect, but yet don't stop there. Summarize the ideas, your findings, synthesize them into useful thoughts about current world, and share it to the people around you.


Write. Writing is an act of creating, not consuming.


Speak. Speaking or teaching is creating, not consuming.


Share. Sharing your material, spiritual, and knowledge wealth to others is act of creating, not consuming.


When you are creating, you also take risks compare to simply consuming. But that's fine, because you will then grow to be a better creator, and better person.


Go out. Be a creator. Let us learn together to be creators, to be productive, for our own selves and society.