Imagination: The long forgotten frontier

The generation below us (us being those of you who are around the same age as me) is growing up in an imaginationless reality. Yes, those words contradict each other one paper, but if you think about it, it makes perfect sense. I thank my lucky stars that I didn't experience my awkward pubescent time in life in the same way these kids are.

Legos, what are those? You mean you had to actually blow into the gaming system to get it to work? You woke up at 6 AM to play basketball BEFORE school?

So, 2 of these 3 things have nothing to do with imagination but it ceases to exist in kids I see. Some will say, "Of course there is imagination, how do you think people create the things they do?" People create from experience and from outlying sources that inspire them. I do think that some imagination lies in them but in all honestly, how many people could sit down and come up with an actual story line with a bunch of plastic army men surrounded by a barrel-o-monkeys?

Even the term "imaginative" isn't even used to describe those who create. They are "visionaries", "prophetic", even "idealists", but where is that magical word? yes, they are synonyms, but Imagination is the root of everything that is creative in this life. To imagine something is to form mental images from the deepest parts of our core and create something real whether it be story, pictures, or plastic men. The closest thing I have seen from awesome imagination is the creation of techno-myths like Russians training ESP children, that AIDS was released by the government, and 9/11 just to name a few. That is real imagination.

As one last point, I make the ridiculous point that kids these days have no imagination because they are lazy and everything is created for them. They are self-indulged conformists who have no time to rely on their own understanding but whatever is handed to them and it begins to spread into those who are older.

Scary.

Put down the phone and pick up a book. Please.