I love dragons. Not just your ordinary dragon. I own a dragon named Bodacious. He is about 4 feet tall and positions himself as the protector of my house. He is red, and his scales are sequins. When Lucy comes over for our student organization meetings, she sits on him like a rocking horse. Why personify this stuffed creature? I use my imagination.
When we use our imagination, we tap into a part of the human spirit that creates and innovates in a way that does not happen in our everyday life. For those of us who took Sociology 101, we probably remember one of the old school theorists, Charles Mills. In 1959, he framed sociological imagination. His premise was to explain how people are able to break out of the social boxes that case social reproduction like poverty. How do we account for people who get past their circumstances and are overcomers?
You cannot be an overcomer if you are still in the place you are in now. You have to be willing to imagine yourself around the corner. Maya Angelou said, “My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style.”
We have to create ourselves anew each day. We have to push each day to be further away from the person we were yesterday.
If our lives were a conversation, it would be best to argue in that dialectic because that is where we would grow the most. The push and pull of the former us with the future us is the plight of our humanity. In that plight is the opportunity to dream a better dream for ourselves. We also need to surround ourselves with friends who are our champion and see the best of who we are.
There is an old saying that says “we are the company that we keep.” This is a true statement. To be the best we can be, we must live in concert with the people who help to make us better. Your inner circle should be diverse and dynamic. They will laugh and cry with you. Trust your crazy ideas and you will be equipped to help you figure them out when the opportunity comes.
I definitely know that all my best friends are crazy, but they also are baby geniuses.
To use your imagination is better than using any drug. The power of our own minds can reshape our futures and outline our fates. I personally like to use my imagination to make people laugh.
I posed a ridiculous request to my sister, Kathryn.
I convinced my big sister to make me a tutu. That is right, I said it. I am not a ballerina, nor do I want to be, but this tutu will be magical, made with my sister’s love and designed to be a spectacle. Every day is an opportunity to tap into the fabric of our collective spirit that allows for all of us to dream a bigger dream. Sometimes that dream needs to start with a tutu.
