Written By: Fizza Qaisar
The word “creativity” conveys the phenomena of innovation, imagination, and inspiration. Creation, however, is not a cherry pie easily available to every individual. It becomes extremely difficult for a person who is undergoing an anarchic situation in life and earning barely enough to meet basic needs. When survival itself becomes a daily struggle, creativity slowly fades into the background.
Imagine a person who is trying to bring food to the table for his family while living from hand to mouth. His days are filled with uncertainty and his nights with anxiety. An unfed stomach keeps fighting the harsh battle for existence. When a person is trading with starvation and uncertainty, he may still have the ability to think and dream, but reality often suppresses those possibilities. Exceptions are always there, but for most people, the struggle to survive consumes all their mental and physical energy.
Dealing with a frequently challenging life, fighting cruel hunger, and facing endless worries about tomorrow, can such a person truly sit down and think about creating something new? Creativity demands peace of mind, a little space to breathe, and the freedom to explore imagination. But when life becomes a rigid, exhausting state of affairs just to keep living, the mind becomes occupied with survival rather than innovation.
Many people often argue that students from slums or lower-middle-class families reach renowned universities and achieve remarkable success. This is indeed inspiring, but it is also important to understand the nature of that success. Most of the time, such students follow the trodden paths. They learn, memorize, and work extremely hard to secure their position in society. Education becomes their ladder to escape poverty, not necessarily a platform for creativity.
On the other side of society stands the upper middle class and the wealthy class. This group of people has rarely encountered the painful gurgle of an empty stomach. Their lives are relatively free from the daily anxieties of survival. Because they are not trapped in the struggle for bread and butter, their minds are more open to imagination, experimentation, and creativity. They have time to think, to fail, to learn, and to try again without the fear of losing their basic necessities.
Another undeniable truth is the cost of creative institutions and opportunities. Art schools, music academies, design institutes, and other creative platforms often demand resources that are simply unaffordable for someone struggling to secure daily meals. When basic food needs remain unsatisfied, paying for creative education becomes an impossible dream.
The brutal truth of life is this: if you place a canvas and a paintbrush in the hands of a hungry person, the picture they paint will most likely be food rather than a masterpiece. Hunger has a powerful voice. It dominates the mind and overshadows imagination.
This reality forces us to think about our responsibilities as a society. If creativity is truly valued, then we must also create conditions where every individual has the chance to think beyond survival. Let us grab the hands of the deprived, the necessitous, the grievous, and the pitiful souls who are trapped in the misery of hunger. Only when basic human needs are fulfilled can creativity truly flourish.
In many parts of the world, creativity is celebrated as a gift of imagination and freedom. People talk about innovation, art, and new ideas as if everyone has the same opportunity to explore them. But the reality is very different for those who struggle to meet their basic needs. When a person wakes up every day worrying about food, rent, and survival, creativity becomes a distant luxury. The mind that should be thinking about ideas and possibilities is instead occupied with the simple question of how to survive another day.
Have we ever truly asked why children from wealthy families often top their classes? Why do their personalities appear more polished? Why do they seem organized and confident? The answer may lie in a simple reality: they are not trapped in the constant loop of worrying about bread and butter. They do not go to bed wondering whether there will be food at home tomorrow. And a hungry stomach rarely leaves space for creativity.
The brutal truth of life is that hunger dominates the mind and overshadows imagination. When a person is trading with starvation and uncertainty, creativity slowly fades into the background because survival becomes the first priority. People who are not trapped in the struggle for bread and butter naturally have more space to think, imagine, and create. A hungry stomach rarely leaves space for creativity. If society truly values creativity, then it must first ensure that people are free from the misery of hunger and the constant battle for existence.
Fizza Qaisar is a journalist who writes about social issues and human struggles.
