The Artist's Role

As a writer, I thought the above quote apropos to my work. For those of who find the quote difficult to read, it says:

My role in society, or any artist's or poet's role, is to try and express what we all feel. Not to tell people how to feel. Not as a preacher, not as a leader, but as a reflection of us all.                                                              ---John Lennon, c.1972

The quote is on the wall at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in a section that depicts the outcry against rock music. Many thought it was music of the devil. Some thought it would turn young people into Communists.  

Of course, there was an outcry against the waltz, too. 

So long as this obscene display was confined to prostitutes and adulteresses, we did not think it deserving of notice; but now that it is attempted to be forced on the respectable classes of society by the civil examples of their superiors, we feel it a duty to warn every parent against exposing his daughter to so fatal a contagion." (Source: The Times of London, 16th July 1816) http://www.centralhome.com/ballroomcountry/waltz.htm

Obviously, anything new is subject to condemnation. 

At any rate, I like John Lennon's quote. It speaks to me. :-)