Imagination: A Wonderful Thing

Imagination is a wonderful thing; that dreamy world where a thousand different worlds unfold. What amazing stories that take place there, when one is allowed to just dream a little. And, with a snug satisfaction, all those adventures can be experienced without ever leaving your comfortable home. For instance…

• …I have walked down the busy streets of New York and London in the morning, feeling the air of busy commerce and traffic. I have taken the El to work, Starbucks coffee cup in hand, a hundred mornings in Chicago. Seen the sun rise over Lake Erie from Sears Tower, and stood on the pier of a little village in Maine looking out over the ocean. I have been the captain of fishing boats steaming out towards open sea.
• I have traveled through Japan, taking the off-road path through little towns far outside of Tokyo or Osaka. I have visited small villages and photographed the countryside. I’ve been in Morocco, Egypt and Israel, taking pictures with my camera. I have seen the mysteries of Nepal.
• I’ve been the friend of movie stars, presidents, famous preachers and foreign kings. I have worked with secret service, protected dignitaries, and led uprisings in far off countries. I’ve been a mercenary, secret agent, benevolent dictator, upheld the law; I’ve conquered nations, established justice, gone to war and fought for peace. I’ve led armored brigades against Napoleon and Alexander the Great.
• I have traveled in time and seen the early days of Egypt. I was there when the pyramids were built (in fact, I had quite a hand in the building process). I was there when Jesus died, I was a part of Columbus expedition to the New World, and I spoke in the senate of the empire of Rome. I saw the first barbarian tribes that moved into Scandinavia, and I stood on the Danube the day that Attila came.
• I’ve been a man of the world; romanced women, crushed their hearts and said “c’est la vie, ma chérie – it was never meant to be”. I’ve professed my love in a thousand ways, written poems and symphonies to put eloquent words to magical feeling, and I’ve sung duets with my wife at my wedding – to spontanous applause. I have received the Nobel prize; and I have given the Nobel prize to others.
• I’ve stood on the moons of Saturn and beheld the sky filled with gleaming rings; and I’ve watched the tiny blue dot that is Earth from the plains of Mars. I’ve seen the millions and billions of stars that is our galaxy. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser gate.

All of this is part of me, of the world I make for myself. Inside, in my thoughts, there are no boundaries for anything; I am king, servant, ruler of the universe, or humble saint. I have a grand palace with fifty rooms, and yet I sleep with the homeless on the street. I build intelligent robots that can love, and I shoot soldiers on the Eastern front. What a dramatic life I lead!

And then I wake up again, and realize that I still haven’t finished that little PHP function I was supposed to build. Oh, well, back to work ….. *sigh*