The Gift of Imagination

Well, what's all this about, anyway? It's about the power (and the price) of imagination. ''Imagination is more important than information.'' Einstein said that, and he should know.

It's also a story about how people of imagination stand on one another's shoulders. From the ground to the balloon to the man in the balloon to the man on the moon. Yes. Some of us are ground crew- holding lines, building fires, dreaming dreams, letting go, watching the upward flight. Others of us are bound for the sky and the far edges of things. That's in the story, too.

These things come to mind at the same time of year when children graduate to the next stage of things. From high school, from college, from the nest of the parent. What shall we give them on these occasions?

Imagination, a shove out and up, a blessing.

Come over here, we say- to the edge, we say. I want to show you something, we say. We are afraid, the say; it's very exciting, they say. Come to the edge, we say, use your imagination. And they come. And they look. And we push. And they fly. We to stay and die in our beds. They to go and die howsoever, inspiring those who come after them to come to their own edge. And fly.

*Extract from Robert Fulghum's book, All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten.

*Art from Studio Ghibli.