What Art Form Can't You Live Without?

A Saturday Prompt

Estragon: I can't go on like this.
Vladimir: That's what you think.

—From Samuel Beckett’s great play, Waiting for Godot

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I began to write today’s prompt about Donald Trump’s new executive order changing the name of the Department of Defense to the Department of War. The name change requires Congressional approval, which could be rejected if there were an actual Congress that took responsibility to serve the American people rather than obediently carrying out Trump’s every mad act.

In announcing this plan, Trump said yesterday, “We could have won every war, but we really chose to be very politically correct, or wokey, and we just fight forever.” This from the guy who dodged the draft by claiming he suffered bone spurs.

More grotesque was what the former Fox weekend host now in charge of defense—or, rather, war—said in the wake of their blowing up the Venezuelan boat on Wednesday and killing passengers they claim without evidence were “narco-terrorists.” While Trump looked on, Pete Hegseth said, “We're going to go on offense, not just on defense. Maximum lethality, not tepid legality. Violent effect, not politically correct. We're going to raise up warriors, not just defenders.”

Maximum lethality, not tepid legality. Get the message? The Trump regime is all about killing, not about something so limp and unimportant as the law.

This is beyond nuts and it portends an expansion of criminality on a global scale.

This may be the topic that you’d like to discuss. You are welcome to do so. But I’d like to offer an alternative, one that may have the promise of uplifting your Saturday rather than descending down into dark reflections on “leaders” who revel in the idea and practice of lawless killing. This prompt was originally written in 2023, and I think it’s more than worthy for fresh consideration.

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What Art Form Can't You Live Without?

How would this world be different without The Godfather or La Dolce Vita or The Twilight Zone or Death of a Salesman or Swan Lake or Waiting for Godot or New York’s Flatiron Building or India’s Taj Mahal or Rodin’s The Thinker or Van Gogh’s The Starry Night or the Mona Lisa or Hamlet or One Hundred Years of Solitude or Romeo and Juliet or Coltrane’s A Love Supreme or Miles’ Kind of Blue or The Beatles’ “Something” or Satie’s “Gymnopedie #1” or “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” or—I don’t know—countless other works of art that make the world a beautiful place to be?

So hard to list just a few. It’s a question that got me thinking.

I occasionally engage in a thought experiment about my senses. It’s a macabre game: Would I rather lose my eyesight, my hearing, my sense of smell, my taste or my touch? Put another way, what sensation would I particularly miss that gives so much pleasure, that makes life so much richer?

All this leads me to wonder about the art forms I love and how much their storytelling enriches my world. Diving into a film or television series that transports me somewhere new. Digging deep into a piece of literature that expands my imagination. Reveling in the beauty of a painting or sculpture or dance that captures something or someone or somewhere so profoundly that I see life with new eyes. Devouring a meal that is artfully made and leaves me utterly satisfied. Gazing on great architecture that fills me with the insight of man’s capacity to build on an epic scale. Swimming in the aural landscapes of music that transform space and time and touch my deepest emotions.

As much as I might fear the idea of losing my sight, I could still carry the memories of what I saw. As much as I value a good meal, food does not rule my life; I’d find a way to live without tasting and smelling, poorer though I’d be. But to never again be swept away by music I love? To never experience the joy and total contentment that comes from listening? To not change my mood in a heartbeat by hearing the work of a composer who strung together individual notes and sounds and produced a whole world? I’m not sure I could live without music.

But that’s just me. What about you? What art form can’t you live without? And are there particular works that you love the most? I started a list at the beginning here, but I’m sure you can expand and enrich this collection for us all to savor.

As always, I look forward to reading your observations and the chance for this community to learn from each other. Please do be respectful in your remarks. Trolling will not be tolerated.

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*Photo: Samuel Beckett’s Waiting For Godot on stage at the 2018 Edinburgh International Festival in Scotland. (Photo by Roberto Ricciuti via Getty Images)