Unless you’re Peter Pan, everybody needs to grow up.

The saddest part about growing up is the loss of imagination and fantasy (not the indecent ones, please).

One of the happiest times in my life was when I could sit all day in my bed and be contented in the fantasy that I’m exploring the Arctic Ocean, fending off pirates and being rescued by dolphins. Or perhaps it was the time when I was inspired by Roald Dahl’s BFG and believed that giants lived in a neighbouring country and would come to pay me a visit soon.

To be caught up in the rat race seems to mean that a compromise has to be made. We have to bid farewell to our best friends – the giants, the fairies, Santa Claus and the bogeyman.

With books such as J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series and Neil Gaiman’s Sandman comic collection, there seems to be an outlet for adults to allow their imagination to run wild, but only on the basis that they are conscious that it’s only fantasy.

There’s always this shred of envy whenever I see children poring over the latest Harry Potter Book or watch them pointing out the cartoon characters they adore at the Lantern Fun-tasy held at the Chinese Garden in September. What they can see in their minds, feel in their hearts and convict in their minds, is a territory which is banned for grown-ups.

It’s so unfair that during this time of our life precisely when we need imagination to lighten our stressful workloads, it is denied from us. Since we cannot turn back time, we can only move forward and in doing so, lose more of our innocence along the way. And to think there was a time we couldn’t wait to grow up.

::Amanda He::
|