I'm not sure I am a politician. I would say that I am still an

The words of Edi Rama — “I’m not sure I am a politician. I would say that I am still an artist, and I’m trying to use politics as an instrument for change” — speak with the fire of a man who carries the soul of creation into the halls of power. In them lies a truth both profound and rare: that the vision of the artist, with its hunger for beauty, imagination, and renewal, may serve as a torch to light the often shadowed path of politics. Rama declares that he does not abandon art for power, but wields power itself as a canvas upon which to paint a more just world.

At the heart of this saying is the recognition that politics, when stripped of vision, is but machinery — gears of law and speech grinding endlessly. The artist, however, sees beyond the surface; he dreams of what does not yet exist, and he dares to create it. By calling himself an artist first, Rama proclaims that his purpose in governance is not to preserve the old, but to shape the new, to treat society itself as a work in progress, to carve hope where despair has hardened.

History offers kindred examples. Marcus Aurelius, though emperor, never saw himself only as a ruler but as a philosopher, wielding politics not for glory but for virtue. Václav Havel, a playwright in Czechoslovakia, became president and used the stage of governance to free his nation from tyranny, turning words into liberation. Like Rama, they remind us that those who bring imagination into power do not merely manage the world — they transform it.

His words also remind us of the dangers of forgetting art within power. Many rulers who thought themselves mere politicians became prisoners of expediency, compromising vision for survival. But to govern as an artist is to refuse to lose sight of the ideal, to hold beauty, justice, and humanity as the measure of all decisions. In this, Rama gives voice to a universal truth: that change comes not from the mechanics of rule, but from the creativity and courage of those who dare to reimagine society.

Let future generations remember this teaching: politics alone cannot save a people unless it is infused with vision, imagination, and the spirit of creation. The artist within the ruler is the guardian of hope, the defender of dreams, and the builder of futures. Edi Rama’s words remind us that to lead is not only to command, but to create — to shape the destiny of nations as an artist shapes stone, canvas, or song, until beauty and justice are revealed within the form.