Imagination. It is an exciting word, really. It is full of possibility and hope and anythingness. This prompt jumped out at me today because I was just reading an article in the Oscars edition of Entertainment Weekly magazine. The last “children’s” Oscar winner ever, Hayley Mills, said this:

I started acting at a time when children were younger. Television wasn’t such a big thing, there were no iPhones or iPods or computers, and we stayed living in our imaginations as children. I don’t think we grew up as quickly. So [acting] was just a short step from the games I played, the imaginary games which all children do.

It struck me that that is exactly what is missing today. Imagination. Oh, there is definitely imagination at play in creating the next big super-successful Silicon Valley technology, but the imagination of children running around with swords saving princesses from dragons has seriously suffered a blow, and not because it is a wonderful possibility that a princess would be saving a prince or any combination thereof, it is simply that the hours upon hours that kids would be spending creating these ideas are now generally spent being spoon-fed “imagination” in the form of structured video games. And too often, violent ones at that. I am interested in contributing to the wellness of America’s soul, and eventually, our world’s souls, and I am thinking that putting away our children’s devices for the majority of the day so they can let their minds roam freely, without structure or rules of engagement from a video game, might just be one of the answers. I also find that when my kids are being imaginative, that that is when I really remember what it’s like to be a child, and I find myself inspired in a wholly different way. I feel…more hopeful, and I have to tell you, that kind of inspiration — instead of being motivated by fear — is really a far more satisfying feeling. A little math for ya’: Imagination –> hope² + action = life joy. Imagine that.

via Daily Prompt: Imagination