Put On Your Cape And We'll Save The World

You got so much love in you.

Sometimes, right after I get out of the shower, I spike my wet hair up into a mohawk and run around the house in leggings and a cape. Well, maybe not really. But it sounds like a good idea. When we were kids it didn't seem so silly as it does now.

When you’re a little kid, what you want and who you want to be? Change by the minute. First you are fighting off Dragons and then, suddenly, you are dancing in a magnificent Ballroom. No one find this odd or inappropriate, in fact, adults tend to encourage this behaviour; “The imagination is a beautiful thing,” – for kids, you mean. As you “grow up” the tolerance for the wonder of imagination is quashed quickly and effectively by school, television, and “the real world.” We were commanded to sit up and pay attention, to stop day dreaming and start taking steps towards having a “good life." You know, a job and house. Success, money, and stability will eventually equal happiness...

… But wait. When I was seven, the good life meant being outdoors from sun up till sun down with lots of forts, bruises, and tree climbing. When I was twelve I believed it to mean comfy clothes, soccer grass stains, and sleepovers, giggling until the sun rose. Then I was seventeen and the good life was anything that gave me an adrenaline rush, no rules, and no responsibility. And now, as a young adult? The good life is supposedly going to University, a job, and settling into society. Now wait a hot second, what was "good" when I was a child sounds much more appealing that what is "good" for an adult. I think I was lied to. I think "the good life" is bullshit. I think school and television prepare you for nothing and strip you of the things that were actually good. I think the real world is more imaginary than anything I thought up as a child. It's funny how our priorities shift.

What do you want, sweetheart? Disney tells you it's yours.

Everyone has a direction, everyone has goals. But, let's be honest, aren't most of us just moving in the same direction? I want to run against the traffic. Not just to be contrary, though that might be part of it, but because I don't like the direction the traffic is going. Let's get back in the fray, stop running away and start running towards. But what does that mean? I'm not really sure, I pose the question so you'll find the answers in your own life. The sun exists for everyone, but everyone sees it from a different horizon. Humor me, shake things up a bit would you?

Put on your childhood cape and we'll save the world. And I don't mean individual salvation. That is only a tiny piece of the picture, this is a montage of images. Take your shoes off and stay awhile. I'm hoping I have enough time to explain it to you, but this living room is shrinking and the clock on the wall seems random. We might lose the time at any moment. Are you doing what you find joy in because there is joy in all of these places. What if you're missing it? Do what you love, do what brings you happiness, don't settle for less than that which brings you contentment. Don't ever settle. We're not ever promised happiness, but we can seek it. We're not ever promised joy, but we can chase it. What we are promised is contentment, but that does not mean we should allow it to prohibit us from going after that which brings us happiness and joy. In fact, I'd argue the opposite. In being content, you are free to chase after all the good things in life without being inhibited. Live free, with your cape in the wind.

Peace be