Why Sondheim Makes You Want to Give Up

The problem with immersing yourself in Sondheim is that what he does is simultaneously so perfect and so humane that it makes you want to give up. None of us will ever do anything 10% as good no matter how hard we try - and even if we do things that are of any quality, most of us can only do it by creating vividly cruel and abrasive things that are the opposite of Sondheim's compassionate humanity. Still worse, part of the reason he got so good is that he was born with every advantage - even if his parents were abusive, he was rich, well connected in New York, the neighbor of Oscar Hammerstein who became a second father to him. By the time he was an adult he fell in with New York's most sophisticated entertainers and knew everything there was to know about putting on a show, and spent his adult life putting into practice all the skills that the rest of us are lucky if we even discover how to do by the time we finish whatever excuse we call our life's work. It's easy to feel like you can view humans with compassion when you've had a life that fulfilling. The rest of us probably find it harder.

You start doubting yourself, you start doubting anything you do is any good or worthwhile, and you know that there's nothing you can do but keep on keeping on in spite of the fact that nobody really cares.