—Ray Bradbury, (August 22, 1920 - June 5, 2012). (via blog.onbeing.org).
I read Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes hiking on the Appalachian Trail six summers ago. It was brilliant, dark, the setting was totally immerse, the action was immediate, and the ending was positive and loving.
Positive imagination.
Many of Brabury's works feature sinister contexts and ruthless challenges. The antagonist of Something Wicked was death itself as a carnival barker, with a tattoo for each soul he had snatched. The protagonists, fourteen year old boys playing in an otherwise idyllic summer, must overcome their dread of death and the father's obsession with mortality. In the end, laughter and joy destroys the carnival's illusions.
I think Bradbury was on to something. The world is a dark, sinister place, oftentimes: death is trying to snatch us up; adults and authorities are often blinded, the stakes really are very high.
And we children can defeat these things with our imagination. If, instead of imagining the decline of our world through environmental collapse or exchanged destruction, we imagine a peaceful future of plenty, we start making it so. Positive imagination - believing that our carnival can be more than a hideout for death - is the first step to making our world a better place.
Do not be ashamed to use your imagination like a fourteen year old! Let us share a vision of the world.
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