Whatever you do, avoid the purists. They hate anything new and innovative.
Whenever I hear someone describe themselves as a purist, I feel sorry for them. They’re really saying they can’t enjoy something unless it follows a rigid set of rules.
Who Do They Think They Are?
They think they’re preservationists, but they’re really just preventionists.
Real preservationists work to preserve great works of the past for the enjoyment of current and future generations. Preventionists, on the other hand, work to prevent anything new and innovative from being enjoyed by anyone – ever.
They think they’re appreciators, but they’re really just depreciators.
Real appreciators know how to enjoy the old and the new. Depreciators can’t even enjoy the old, because they’re so disgusted with the new.
And They’ll Know We Are Purists ‘Cause We’re Smug
In a room filled with people having a good time, you can always spot the purists. They’re the ones having a bad time and feeling smug about it.
They roll their eyes. They shake their heads. They scoff, they sigh, they tsk, they snort.
Telling It Like It Is, How It Was, and How It Should Always Be
Books, they’ll tell you, were meant to be printed on paper. Music, they’ll inform you, should sound precisely the way it did five hundred years ago.
Art should look like this. Food should taste like that.
They get upset when you go off script. They hate it when you change the arrangement. They lose their minds when you fiddle with the format and monkey with the recipe.
They point out your impurities and offer to wash your brain. They seek out purist partners to share in their disdain.
They try to raise purist children, tiny carbon copies who tow the family line. We’re so proud of Johnny. He finished the school year without a single, original thought on his record.
Here Come’s the Purist Parade
These purists come in many forms.
Business purists who will tell you the precise steps you must follow to be a serious captain of enterprise.
Food purists who would like you to obsess over the nutritional stats of every mouthful rather than simply aim for a balanced, healthy and enjoyable diet.
Grammar purists who are now pulling out their hair over the fact that this and the previous two lines are not actually complete sentences.
Art purists. Music purists. Holistic medicine purists. Twitter etiquette purists. Yes, people are constantly coming up with new things to be purists about.
The Life of a Purist
If you ever find yourself becoming one, remember this. For a purist, life is one, big, long string of disappointments, because life isn’t pure; it’s messy.
They can’t enjoy a delicious feast because they’re so disappointed in the slightly undercooked green beans.
They can’t enjoy a marvelous musical performance because they’re so disappointed in the off note they thought they heard in the second movement.
For the purist, life is too pitchy. It needs more salt. The third act is too contrived.
And, last but not least, they can imitate, but they can never actually create anything. If they tried, their own imperfections would be too much to bear.
Parting Ways with Purists
My advice to you is to let the purists remain the few, the proud, the pristine. Let them have their rule books, their manuals, and their catechisms.
As for me and mine, we’re going to make a mess of things and enjoy ourselves. I hope you’ll be joining us.
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Why are we compelled to work in one art form or medium, and not another?
