Neverland is dying!

Here is something I wrote a while back about imagination and growing up

Neverland is dying!
As kids our imaginations are everything.  For a world that is so immaterial it sure can have a profound effect on the real world as much as anything. We could be and do anything our hearts desired; soar through stars, explore the deep oceans, save the princess, kill the villain, win the game, survive the battle, slay monsters…..all before the sun went down. There is a place that exemplifies all this; it’s the home of Peter Pan: Neverland. Anything and everything was possible there. You could fly, fight, crow and never grow old, always a child retaining all that bright eyed wonder and thrilling adventure. Sure you could dismiss Neverland, and other imaginary places, as not being as valid since they aren’t real. I say they are more real than anything else. These other worlds are still around, still standing, after real things have decayed and broken. These imaginary places can be carried anywhere or by anyone (though children have a special talent for it). They can be transferred and shared with others with little effort. Their availability is constant. They are always changing, yet always the same. How much more real can you get? However, just like more tangible things, lack of use or dismissing them leads to decay. As we grow older our imaginations lessen in their fantastical elements and become more based upon our daily lives.  Now, it becomes musings of riches, sex, love, career advancement and comfort from the rigors of existence. Neverland is crumbling, falling apart. We don’t go there as much as we used to. It’s not being kept up to its usual bright and beautiful self. We have television, video games and movies; that we’ve let completely fill our spot in our hearts for imagining. Rather than a companion to our wildest hopes and dreams, we’ve let them and reality take us over. Neverland is now a place of darkness, violence and blood; full of anger and fear. There’s little joy or fun to be had anymore. We grew up and became Peter’s worst fear, his enemy; adults. We should have more of a balance; instead we have fully, completely, complacently become …………Captain Hook.