Choosing to Imagine

"When the first baby laughed for the first time, the laugh broke into a thousand pieces and they all went skipping about, and that was the beginning of fairies. And now when every new baby is born its first laugh becomes a fairy. So there ought to be"

Author: James Matthew Barrie quotes (the creator of Peter Pan)

When I was a child I looked forward every year to the broadcasting of the musical Peter Pan with Mary Martin as Peter.  The role is traditionally played by a petite woman and Martin was iconic.  She brought Peter to life for me in that musical, which I only saw in black and white on our TV.   I could feel the wind in my hair as I flew through the air with Peter.   I cried when Tinkerbell was dying and I faithfully said, " I believe in fairies" for her.   Peter Pan was the person who did not want to leave childhood, who did not want to grow up.   I understand that.   Being an adult is hard with hard choices and unclear paths.   It would be easier not to grow up and to be a child forever.
However, one can always maintain the important qualities of childhood.   Wonder, curiosity, questions, imagination, creativity, and belief in magical possibilities.   Believing that we can help the fairy live, that we can change the world.    Changing the world does not have to a big thing, it's the little things that count.   Smiling at the grumpy clerk, maybe complimenting them on what they are doing, visiting an aging neighbor, picking up trash on a dirty street, collecting coats for cold children, serving food at a food kitchen, giving socks and blankets to the homeless on the street.....there are a thousand little things that will change the world and if everyone did just one.......
I was also a teenager in the late 60s early 70s.  There was a belief in the air at that time that we could change the world.   We grew up and became adults with all that entails and I think many of us lost the childlike wonder and belief in fabulous possibilities.  
Faith is renewed  when a child that is born  and we get a glimpse of the marvelous paths this little one could travel.  If we are patient enough to pay attention to a child, we can grasp belief in the impossible again.   Little children find everything amazing because they see with new eyes and we can borrow those eyes to see things new ourselves.  Their minds are verdant valleys of imagination and wonderful ridiculous ideas.   My oldest grandchild imagined for quite a time that he had a "roar car" and his imaginary car could do amazing things.  He also had an alter ego that he called super-Braeden who had great abilities.   There was no doubt in his mind of the power of these imagined beings.  
There are those who believe there is something wrong with this kind of imagination, but I don't .  I think wrong imagination is the kind that causes us to believe the wrong things about other people.  It causes us to think that others think negatively about us or that we, ourselves, are worthless.   The kind of imagination that makes us think we are better than someone else because we have more money, or a better job, or more degrees, or better clothes.   I don't think the glorious, whimsical, fantastical, imagination of a child is anything but wonderful.  Einstein said and I think he should have a good grasp on the subject,

“Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.”

So I am no longer a child and I may not believe in super powered cars or have my own personal altar ego superhero (although I could really use a few powers at times) but I try my best to always look at the world around me through the lens of imagination, what could be.   I try to look at people that way also.  I try to see who they could be.   I know the world is full of so much pain, sickness, and just plain evil, but I also know that it was never meant to be that way and if I can manage to look at it with the eyes of possibility, maybe I can still change it, even a little bit.

'She Birthed a Laughing Child'  each section 18" by 24" Available for viewing or purchase at "Her Hands" exhibit, Hamilton NY   at the Old Parry Hardware store across from the bookstore.

 

 

When I wrote about the mosaic that I just finished I realized I never told you, dear reader, the title of the piece.  I was searching for a name, (which is often the hardest part), thinking of the poem that is the guideline for the exhibit, (I promise to publish that also) and the week of our newest grandchild's arrival when the Peter Pan quote came to my attention, twice.  I happened to come across it when I was searching for quotes about childbirth, and then later my husband just happened to be watching "Finding Neverland" and I just happened to walk in when they were quoting it in the movie.   So I named the piece "She Birthed a Laughing Child".