When I was a little girl, I was a firm believer in fairies. I believed the story my Aunt told me, that when she was a young girl, a fairy flew up to her in her garden. At twenty, I know that she's somewhat an avid storyteller, and she'd probably deny her story if I were ever to bring it up now. Then a family friend told me that she saw a fairy, too. She told me that she was in the woods and nobody was around her, but she saw the fairy as it flew right past her. You can imagine how, at such a naive age, I lapped it up. But the thing was that she seemed really adamant that she saw that fairy, and I sometimes wonder whether she was telling the truth.
I promise I'm not a delusional person who still believes in fairies, and Santa Claus, but I do believe in dreams. And I know that when we were younger and we believed in fairies, or the Easter bunny, or even zombies, we weren't just being naive children, we were daring to believe that somewhere out there in the world were extraordinary things, things that seemed so magical inside the mundane life of a kid.
We wanted to believe that fairies were out there somewhere. We could almost see their pastel, glittering wings and pixie-like features inside our minds as if we were seeing them with our eyes open because it gave us something to imagine, to hope for, even. We were dreaming with our eyes open.
And now, so much tragedy surrounds us. And as people live in our world who kill other people in the most horrendous ways, and sick, evil people commit unforgivable crimes, I have never before missed those times more. That abilty to get lost in this world where beautiful things exist, where the ability to imagine allows you to get lost, because sometimes, it's not to be better than reality, right?
Our world is changing, and the war in Iraq probably won't be the last, and terrorists will likely plot yet more ways to cause devastation, and loss. Mother nature will take people away from us, and people who are sick, and twisted, will continue to kill people. But I'm glad that children have something to lose themselves in, their imagination, and get lost in a world where better things exist, where the world seems like a safe, and beautiful place to young minds, who have endless years ahead of them to witness what the world is really like.
I promise I'm not a delusional person who still believes in fairies, and Santa Claus, but I do believe in dreams. And I know that when we were younger and we believed in fairies, or the Easter bunny, or even zombies, we weren't just being naive children, we were daring to believe that somewhere out there in the world were extraordinary things, things that seemed so magical inside the mundane life of a kid.
We wanted to believe that fairies were out there somewhere. We could almost see their pastel, glittering wings and pixie-like features inside our minds as if we were seeing them with our eyes open because it gave us something to imagine, to hope for, even. We were dreaming with our eyes open.
And now, so much tragedy surrounds us. And as people live in our world who kill other people in the most horrendous ways, and sick, evil people commit unforgivable crimes, I have never before missed those times more. That abilty to get lost in this world where beautiful things exist, where the ability to imagine allows you to get lost, because sometimes, it's not to be better than reality, right?
Our world is changing, and the war in Iraq probably won't be the last, and terrorists will likely plot yet more ways to cause devastation, and loss. Mother nature will take people away from us, and people who are sick, and twisted, will continue to kill people. But I'm glad that children have something to lose themselves in, their imagination, and get lost in a world where better things exist, where the world seems like a safe, and beautiful place to young minds, who have endless years ahead of them to witness what the world is really like.
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