{"id":13509,"date":"2015-01-08T10:14:20","date_gmt":"2015-01-08T15:14:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/zackhunt.net\/?p=13509"},"modified":"2015-01-08T10:14:20","modified_gmt":"2015-01-08T15:14:20","slug":"even-masterpieces-critics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2015\/01\/even-masterpieces-critics\/","title":{"rendered":"Even Masterpieces Have Their Critics"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"lincoln\"(Credit: New York Magazine<\/em><\/a>)<\/p>\n

Show me a person\u00a0without insecurities and I\u2019ll show you a liar.<\/p>\n

Whether you\u2019re an artist or a teacher, a preacher or athlete, a business tycoon or world-famous\u00a0musician, we have all things we\u2019re insecure about, even if we\u2019re not willing to admit to them publicly.<\/p>\n

Like every other writer that\u2019s ever lived, I can become incredibly\u00a0insecure about sharing my thoughts with the world.\u00a0The mere prospect\u00a0of criticism of something I put some much time and so much of myself into is terrifying. What if people don\u2019t like it? What if it doesn\u2019t make as much sense as I thought it did? What if there\u2019s a typo?!<\/em><\/p>\n

I encounter the same insecurities when I speak. It doesn\u2019t matter how much time and preparation I put into what I\u2019m going to say, the moment I step on the platform, I\u2019m instantly bombarded by thoughts of failure and embarrassment. What if I forget what I want to say? What if I stumble over my words? What if that Red Bull I just had comes back to haunt me and I accidentally let out the loudest burp these people have ever heard?!<\/em><\/p>\n

Whether founded or not, our fears and insecurities can be so crippling that they keep us from even trying, let alone taking the risks necessary for success. In our vain pursuit of perfection, we too often convince ourselves that unless we can produce a masterpiece, the potential\u00a0for criticism makes taking a risk not worthwhile.<\/p>\n

But the truth is,\u00a0no matter how wonderful the book we write, the sermon we preach, the lesson we teach, or the song we sing actually\u00a0is, there will always be critics.<\/p>\n

Even if what we do turns into\u00a0the stuff of legend.<\/p>\n

You would be hard-pressed to find anyone today that wouldn\u2019t agree that Abraham Lincoln was one of greatest presidents, if not the greatest president our country has ever seen. And even\u00a0though there might be many among us still scarred from forced elementary school recitations of the Gettysburg Address, it is universally hailed as one of the greatest speeches ever delivered.<\/p>\n

Or at least it is today.<\/p>\n

But that wasn\u2019t the case 150 years ago when Lincoln first delivered his famous address.<\/p>\n

Though there were certainly many who immediately\u00a0recognized the greatness of Lincoln\u2019s humble speech, his now timeless words were also met with fierce and degrading criticism. In perhaps the most infamous\u00a0assessment of Lincoln and his Gettysburg Address, the Chicago Times\u00a0<\/em>had this to say,<\/p>\n

\n

The cheek of every American must tingle with shame as he reads the silly, flat, dish watery utterances of the man who has to be pointed out to intelligent foreigners as the president of the United States.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I\u2019ll never write words as beautiful or deliver a speech as eloquent as Lincoln did on that hallowed ground so long ago, but I do find an\u00a0odd sense of comfort in the knowledge that even masterpieces are not without their critics.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not that I think I have or ever will do anything that rises to the level of being called a masterpiece. But accepting the fact that nothing I\u00a0ever\u00a0do will ever be good enough for everybody has\u00a0a liberating effect for me. That acceptance doesn\u2019t magically rid me of all of my insecurities, but it does give me just enough confidence to try.<\/p>\n

I may still fall flat on my face, my writing may turn out to be genuinely terrible, and someone might fall asleep while I\u2019m preaching, but even if I somehow found a way to write a Pulitzer Prize-winning piece of literature or gave a speech that children a hundred years from now are forced to recite at school, it wouldn\u2019t keep the critics away.<\/p>\n

So why not try?<\/em><\/p>\n

Why not take the risk and write what I want to write and say what I want to say and do what I want to do?<\/em><\/p>\n

Why not embrace the inevitability of failure in the eyes of some for the chance of doing something truly great?<\/em><\/p>\n

Greatness will almost certainly\u00a0allude me forever and that\u2019s ok. But I\u2019ll never stand a chance at\u00a0doing something worthwhile\u00a0if I let the fear of criticism keep me from trying.<\/p>\n

\n<\/p><\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Credit: New York Magazine) Show me a person\u00a0without insecurities and I\u2019ll show you a liar. Whether you\u2019re an artist or a teacher, a preacher or athlete, a business tycoon or world-famous\u00a0musician, we have all things we\u2019re insecure about, even if we\u2019re not willing to admit to them publicly. Like every other writer that\u2019s ever lived, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3437,"featured_media":13510,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13509","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nEven Masterpieces Have Their Critics<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"(Credit: New York Magazine) Show me a person\u00a0without insecurities and I'll show you a liar. 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