As my eager roommate peered over my shoulder she exclaimed, "Mermaids!"
"No Kelly," I explained, "That doesn't say mermaids." After my reply I started to think of the wildness of a mermaid. The wildness of the creative thought that birthed the idea of the mermaid. It all started with a seaman suffering from sleepless nights and too many foggy mornings to confuse a sea cow for a mermaid. It only took a hint of confusion for his imagination to run WILD. Maybe that's what our childish fantasies of other worlds with fairies and dark lords is derived from. And, unless you are a great author, artist, or screen writer you are seen as odd to still dream of such things past the age of 10. Is it society that drives out this WILD part of our imaginations to make us see the world as more "practical" and "serious"? Only the kid who gets made fun of for "still playing with toys" understands this. The child who is forced to stop playing in an imaginary world feels the sorrow of leaving the WILD imagination. Why are we forced to leave this exciting sense of wonder in everything behind?
2 comments:
"And, unless you are a great author, artist, or screen writer you are seen as odd to still dream of such things past the age of 10."
There is somewhat of a double standard here. It's ok for writers & artists to dream of these, but not for anyone else. "Normal" people escape into the fantasies of art, books & movies, but then they immediately dismiss the content as childish and silly. You can never bee TOO enthusiastic about the book you've just read or the movie you've just seen, because if you are, others will immediately notice that you're "weird" and that you need to "grow up."
You need to borrow my H.C. Anderson book, it's got the story of the little mermaid in it. It's genius.
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