Lesson 88: Imagine

According to my 5-year old nephew's knowledge, if you sneeze three times in a row, you'll wake up the giants and the only way to stop them is to burn their house down...but if you really want to escape from them, you have to steal all of their weapons first.

Today while I was playing with my nephew at the local playground, this is the story that he told me. Not only did I learn about what ruffles giants' feathers, I also learned that adults need to be able to imagine as well as kids do. It's not to say that I now believe that there are giants living at the playground or that they'll come after me if I sneeze three times.

I do believe, however, that if adults were willing to let go of the things that keep us from viewing the world through the hopeful eyes of a child, this world would be a lot less tense. Why is it that adults can't solve problems of world hunger, war and greed but a 5-year old can slay dragons and hunt giants? Granted, one is a reality and the other is not, but it seems like something goes away once we hit those rough spots in life. We become more skeptical, and we lose sight of what really matters as we're blinded by fame, and fortune. We stop asking "what if." We stop seeing possibilities in exchange for momentary instant gratification. Value becomes monetary and ceases being intangible.

I guess today was a lesson in humbling myself and just allowing my imagination to run free. Hopefully in the future, I'll get a lesson on where it will take me.