"'You seemed so far away,’ Miss Honey whispered, awestruck. ‘Oh, I was. I was flying past the stars on silver wings,’ Matilda said. ‘It was wonderful’” (Dahl).


Those same “silver wings” carried me past many a constellation as a child. In my adolescence, it was easy to create a whole new world in my mind and slip inside it for a while. I was quite the imaginative child, complete with a creative streak half a mile wide. I had a habit of writing stories about my fantastically fantasized adventures and sketching all the witty characters I never actually met on these journeys. Imagination was not a part of my vocabulary, it was my vocabulary. My fantasy was my entire reality, and it was wonderful.

Duane Michals once said, “I believe in the imagination. What I cannot see is infinitely more important than what I can see.” To this day, I agree with Michals. Unfortunately, I cannot speak the same on behalf of other young adults my age. I like to believe that my fellow peers traveled those same wildly imaginative paths I did, and I am sure most of them had colorful childhoods, too. As I have grown, however, I have realized that imagination seems to fade with age. While I found myself still contemplating the unknown, my friends began to drift back to reality. They called it “growing up”, but I called it getting lost. Everyone became concerned with what they could see, leaving their castles in the clouds undisturbed.

As time went on, I began to feel out of place; reading books and writing stories was no longer the cool thing to do. My colorful imagination did not assist in making new friends anymore, nor did my dreams. I had a hard time connecting to people, mainly because I was usually in a world of my own. I, like Matilda, was flying past the stars; far away, with my wonderful silver wings.

Consequently, I am not the only person who never really conformed to the rules of reality. There are plenty of people who never quite outgrew their imaginations, and some of them went on to do amazing things. Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Graham Bell, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Dr. Seuss, J. K. Rowling, J. R. R. Tolkien, and Walt Disney are all famous examples of my fellow dreamers. In fact, behind every good invention, book, movie, song, or idea, was someone with a vivid imagination. Without one, some of our most convenient and entertaining tools would not exist.

To this day, I consider myself a dreamer. I like to speculate about my adventures and fantasize about my future. I imagine it a little like this: my name, on the cover of a New York Time’s bestselling book, or my art showcased in museums; my face, looking down on me from the big screen, or my voice, singing to me on the radio. It matters not what I do in the long run; I am more concerned with the imagination and motivation required to get there. I believe that I can accomplish whatever I set my mind to, and in turn, I will. All I need to do is open my mind, imagination, and wings; only then will I truly fly.