Is it really a "sacrifice"?

I was just perusing one of the screenwriting bulletin boards and stumbled across a posting from some guy who asked why screenwriters “sacrifice” their lives simply to write movies. Gee, would he feel better if we sacrificed our lives selling insurance, or selling cars, or driving a forklift? So I replied to him with this quote from screenwriter Phil Alden Robinson:

“…All over America and all over the world people will sit in dark rooms and watch something that only existed in your head. And they’ll be moved, or entertained, or enlightened, or touched…and a part of it will stay with them and become a piece of their memories, a piece of their life. And this movie that you imagined, and that is the product of so many people working hard for so long, this movie that against all odds turned out pretty good, this movie that bears your name, will outlive you. You will have succeeded in leaving something behind with this power to touch people. Something that says I was here. And I tried. And this is what I did when I was here… To have even a chance of accomplishing that is the prime reason we create.”

Thanks, Phil, I think that sums it up pretty well.