So, What Matters to you?
What Matters? It’s something that I’ve thought about quite a bit over the years. And yet, I’m not certain that I have much of a grip on it. I know a few things that I think matter, like family, friends, community, ethics, beauty, peace, love, and understanding. You know, the basics. At some point soon, I will record them for posterity, but I don’t think that I will reveal that here until this project nears completion. I just don’t want to skew things in one direction or another; what I’m really after here is something of a portrait of the values of the world at large, which may or may not conform to my own personal vision.
I will reveal this, though: You matter to me. And your ideas matter to me. There are many reasons why this is true, but let it suffice for now to say that your ideas matter to me because they are the fodder for this project. We’ve all seen documentaries featuring a series of talking heads discussing historical events or natural phenomena or the falderol that characterizes our political discourse these days. Well, imagine that YOU and your ideas about what’s important in life were the subjects of a documentary. You are my braintrust.
What I’m hoping for as this project progresses is to get interviews on the subject of personal values from as many people as possible. I have been reaching out to people of various stripes- some scholarly, some well-known, and others who are ordinary folk like you and me- for interviews on the subject. That means you. If you’ve gone to the trouble of reading this far, I’d like to hear what you have to say on the subject.
I’m asking you to ask yourself; What Matters? What are the values that you feel direct your life? What are the most important things in this life? Ask yourself these questions, and then record your answers. Either write them down or get out your phone (or use your computer’s camera) and capture your own thoughts on the matter. If you have a friend or partner at hand, maybe you could interview one another; sometimes, it’s easier to get started when it’s part of a conversation. In fact, use whatever means of communication you like to convey your answer. Maybe it’s a song, or a painting, or another work of art. Perhaps an interpretive dance. Whatever it is, record it for me, and send it to terry@longcutproductions.com. And if you don’t have the know-how or the confidence (or the desire) to do it on your own, contact me and I will arrange an interview, in person if possible, or online if that is more practical.
Here is what I suggest you do: Begin with a brief introduction. Tell us what your name is, where you are from, and a little bit about yourself. This information will likely not end up in the final product (and you will be given the opportunity to keep it out regardless if you like,) but it might serve to give a sociological backdrop to our findings, whatever they may be. And after you’ve given this brief introduction, just try to say what you think is important in life without doubting yourself too much. Whatever you have to say is valid. These are not matters of distinct fact, so there are no wrong answers. But try to stick to the subject; though Beyonce’s newest hairdo might be fascinating, it probably doesn’t mean much in the scheme of things. We just want to know what does.
I have another caveat or two; first of all, no form of hate speech is welcome here. We don’t need to know what values you disagree with; we just want to know about what you do believe to be important. To this end, as we post new interviews and essays to the site, we will not be allowing comments on individual posts. We all know how far wrong these can go sometimes, and I want you to consider this a safe space, which is why your name and other info will not be shared unless you want it to. Also, if it becomes evident that some sort of effort is being made by any given group to put a particular agenda to the forefront, that effort will be thwarted, and that point of view will be relegated to an appropriate amount of coverage on the site (and in the movie to come.) Similarly, I would like to discourage overtly political contributions. This is not to say that politics are off-limits; to the degree to which they are important to your life, they are welcome, but I think that if you can look past your particular politics and into the values that you hold dear (which may or may not be reflected in your political affiliations,) you will get at something more in the spirit of this inquiry.
Each potential post will be viewed or read by someone on this end before it is made available to the public, and they may be edited for length and clarity. This is in no way a form of censorship except in the ways mentioned above. It is just an attempt to keep the discourse civil and untainted by any given bit of dogma. We will also try to make you look and sound good. For starters, I’ve created a page with a few helpful hints for creating your video. Finally, we will try to make sure you get your point across the way you want to. If ever you think that your thoughts are being misrepresented, just let me know, and we’ll do whatever we need to do to fix it. We will be asking everyone to sign a release stating that it’s okay for us to use your image on the website and in the documentary to come, which is standard practice in the documentary world, but should you wish to revoke your permission before this project is memorialized in documentary form, we will remove your thoughts from the website. It’s all about you and your ideas, after all.
What’s in it for You? Well, obviously, there’s the satisfaction in knowing that you are contributing to something that might make a difference. It’s also an opportunity for you to express yourself and your values to the world at large. At the least, you are helping me to create something new (and possibly wonderful.) And, as though that weren’t enough, everyone who chooses to participate will be given a free download of the documentary when it’s finished.
Look at this as an opportunity to reflect upon and express the things that you find to be truly important in life. We are continually confronted with negativities, especially now, in the time of pandemic, social unrest, and political volatility. Perhaps it will behoove us, both as individuals and as a society to reexamine the things which make our lives worthwhile rather than to focus constantly on the train wreck that public discourse has become. I hope that you will join me in this endeavor to discover What Matters.