The Dreamers

I have lived in millions of worlds. I have seen the most incredible of things. I have known things that would sweep minds away.

I have been a pirate and an astronaut. I have ruled the whole world as the most benevolent of kings and as the most wicked tyrant.

I have walked amongst the ancient pagan gods in their heavenly palaces. I flew across the world on golden wings and surfed the underwaters with no air.

I talked to every single animal, insect and disease and lived their lives in every detail.

I met aliens from thousands of different galaxies and traveled to every corner of the universe with them.

And that is just the smallest glimpse of some of the millions of worlds I have visited. Every single one of them created with ultimate love and care. I made my home in the land of imagination, where everything is perfected like I want it to be. I have dreamed up my own existence.

Some people argue that it is all false - all lies - that it is not there.

To me, each one of those worlds is as real as the real life. I love them and I have a full community going on there!

The key lies in imagination. Such a magic word. A world-opening word. I believe that everyone is born full of imagination. If you want to see the complete magic of it, watch a few kids playing. Their imagination breeds the most interesting and strange games. They will create a game out of anything, even an old cardboard box or some crushed tin cans. That is the beauty of imagination. Wherever you look, there is something more than what the dullness of life offers.

Somewhere along the line as people grow, however, they start losing their imagination. I don't know why it happens. Maybe the rigors of life kill something inside of us. Maybe maturity and imagination cannot co-exist. Whatever the reason is, 99% of people lose their imagination as they grow up. They end up in a dry, materialistic world where nothing that you can't see with your two eyes exists.

But a trickle of people don't lose their touch with imagination. They grow up with it and it becomes part of who they are. They live every moment of it like they did when they were children. I call them the dreamers. They are responsible for everything in this world.

From the greatest scientists to the greatest playwrights and artists, imagination is the thread that led to everything fantastic. They dreamed up flying, traveling to space, Lord of the Rings....everything. They set the trend that the others - the non-dreamers - follow in. Their imagination is the spice of life.

I choose to be a dreamer - and I refuse to have it any other way.

While many dreamers from Einstein to Shakespeare have affected my life, I will forever be indebted to sir James Berrie, the creator of Peter Pan. Berrie found the world of Peter Pan when he became a child among children. He lived life their way. It was the purest type of imagination - the imagination of a child - that gave us Neverland.

Of all the worlds I have created in my mind, none is as special and unique and beautiful as Neverland. Thank you Berrie for all the years you've taught me how to see Neverland.

For all it's worth, to me it was perfect.




Are you a dreamer?