July 15, 2007
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terabithia
Many movies are creative but few show the wonder and glory inherent in acts of creativity. Bridge to Terabithia does. It’s strange to think that so many stories either take place in a world so far from earth as it is now that we cannot truly relate to it as if the characters lives were lives that we were leading or else deal with the mundane aspects of the real world as it is now. How to cope with our job, how to pick a career path, how to deal with changes in wealth or status, how to stand up to dark conspiracies, how to deal with racism and prejudice, how to try and fix the social problems that plague society, how to navigate the dangerous waters of interpersonal relationships safely. These are the topics of most stories. I guess these are the subjects that people most want to hear about.
I don’t. Not that those topics aren’t important or that I particularly mind watching and learning from movies dealing with various subjects. I do watch and learn and enjoy, but if I had choice it’d be a different type of story I would prefer to observe. A story not tediously bound to reality as it is, nor floaitng through reality that can never be. Rather,the story I most enjoy is the story that shows people living an inordinate life in the ordinary world. The story of people who live fantasies and love dreaming. People who live a life of wonder.
And that’s how I wish that more people would lead their lives even now. We should be living lives of wonder! All the time and every day. Our minds should open expansively so that we can see the extraordinary nature of the universe around us. See the wonder in it. See the glory in it. We should be riding on lightbeams and swimming through clouds. We should be playing catch with stars and hide and go seek throughout a forest of rainbows. A life of wonder! That’s how we should lead our lives.
It’s always been strange to me that human beings can create such wondrous things and then not let that wonder touch them in their daily lives. In the heart of our soul we are all artists and dreamers and musicians and storytellers. And so it is no surprise that we churn out so many beautiful works of art year in and year out, many of which is made for no other reason than the pleasure we feel in making it. But to walk down the street, to talk to people ally and stranger alike and you’d see no hint of the wonder within. No one will talk in terms of dreams or dreaming. Everyone will be so serious and concrete. They’ll talk of responsibility and duty and morality and politics and likes and dislikes and tell their own personal stories with seriousness and gravity and a deep sense of the importance of these weighty topics. Few will engage in rampant imaginings. Few will talk even in terms of what-ifs for fear of being deemed childish. None will simply speak tales of wonder, stories born of the minds wild wanderings. None will talk to people with words wrought from make believe. Not ordinarily, and not unless circumstances are just so that it seems appropriate.
Bah to that! We should be filled with wonder in every second of every day! We should see the amazing nature of a blade of grass, of a crack in the sidewalk and wonder at its nature. Whole communities should wake up and watch the sunrise together and spend their lunchtimes gazing out at the clouds and talking about what they imagine those clouds look to be. At birth all children should be given a sketchbook, a journal in which to write, and a musical instrument which to play and they should find opportunities to experience a thousand thousand other tools of creativity as they grow older. Nothing should bar that.
We can’t make sweeping changes to the world we live in. Nothing we do will stop the sun coming up in the morning and setting at night, at least for now. But we can change everything about the way we perceive that world. We can dream. We can wonder. We can imagine. We can see all the beauty and glory that is inherent in everything we experience and we can add layers upon layers of meaning and wonder through our creativity and imagination and grow all the more appreciative of it as a result.
Creativity is our birthright. The thing that really makes our species extraordinarily special. We would do well to never forget to exercise it.
