The Writers Voice
The World's
Favourite Literary Website
Twenty Something - on the power of imagination
by
Crystal J. Stranaghan
I've been thinking a lot recently about the power of imagination, and the
decline of our belief in that power as we age.
I was on the ferry over to the island a couple months ago when I overheard a
little girl telling her mom about what she could see out the window of the
ferry. Mermaids, she said...and when mom asked “how many” she proceeded to count
them. We were waiting to get off the boat, so there was a large crowd gathered
around and the reactions to this activity -counting the mermaids that is- was
varied.
Some people just smiled indulgently. Cute kid, vivid imagination...no harm done.
A few others got a twinkle in their eye that said they wished they remembered
when they could see mermaids. One or two others looked like they were barely
able to bite their tongues and refrain from telling her that mermaids aren't
real, and even if they were they certainly wouldn't choose the icy cold waters
of Georgia Strait in October as a fun place to hang out.
I wanted to know what they looked like. But she was so busy counting them that I
didn't like to interrupt her to ask. I should have.
Because I'm still wondering about what exactly she saw....and the only way to
know that would have been to ask her. And then they really would have been real.
I've been thinking over how powerful it is to share ideas with people and that
it is only in the sharing – the successful communication of an idea between two
people- that we are able to actually remove something from the mental realm and
drag it kicking and screaming into physical form.
Is this not what we do every day? As each day starts off, nothing yet exists in
that day...and so we create it as we go along. We take our thoughts, plans,
ideas about what will happen during that day and then make them a reality (or
perhaps even more often discard them).
But, when we communicate our intentions to someone else – make an appointment,
write a “to do” list, make a date, or tell someone about our plans – it makes it
more real, and that activity is far more likely to actually move from an idea to
a “real” event that takes place.
I would then argue that the only thing that limits what we can do with our days
is our imagination and our willingness to discard our belief in what is, or is
not, possible.
I wonder what you could do with your day if you gave your imagination free reign
– and then had the courage to tell someone else what you saw? Where could a life
composed of days like that take you? I suppose more importantly, where couldn't
it?
© 2006 by Crystal J. Stranaghan
Critique this work
Click on the book to leave a comment about this work
