Experiences
are what drive creativity. Whether it is
happy, sad, traumatic, or wonderful; the result is always the same: an
imagination sparked by reality. Maybe
you use these experiences to create something, or simply relate to something
that is created; that light bulb still shines bright whether you know it or
not. Children seem to have the concept
of creativity down to perfection, an art that’s often lost among us “grown”
folk…
Recently
I had an experience that got me thinking, as almost everything does (because I
suck and over think using my brain which was created for thinking, as you all
know). I was watching a football game at
a friend’s house and their nine year old son swiftly jumped from his comfortable
corner of the couch and ran as fast as he could to the restroom. I paid no mind as we all have to go,
right? But what happened next brought
out the beast that is my mind and put it into full motion. The boy emerged from the restroom, smiled
from ear to ear, looked me straight in the eyes and said “I almost
sharted!”
Sharted: a combination of the words “Shit” and “Farted” implying that one has
just farted and a small amount of shit accompanied the gassy discharge.
Needless to
say I, my friend, and her son all burst into an uncontrollable laughter. Though the term sharted was not an original
creation, the boy still had the know how to creatively combine two words into
one hilarious instance that he damn well knew would spark the reaction that it
did. A child, using his imagination to
elicit a response from adults that could end in two possible scenarios: a. He’s
scolded for being inappropriate, or b. we laugh our asses off; a risk worth
taking for the fifty-fifty chance of a big pay off that’s worth every effort. At this very moment we were all children
living in a fantasy world full of shit, farts, and laughter. It was fantastic and the boy succeeded in
entertaining others through creativity.
Ridiculous
and immature? Hmm…perhaps, but where
would we be without such things? If you aren't able to tap into your inner child, how could you accomplish anything? Believe it or not, everything great in this
world at one point was just a fantasy in someone’s imagination. Bringing those fantasies to life for our
benefit is the difference between those who are successful and those who are
not. That begs the question: who is
immature? The one who embraces their
immaturity? Or the one who isn’t mature
enough to recognize its significance?
Take
the comedy world for example. Most
comics rely on humor to get a huge point across to their audience. An underlying message surrounded by creative,
and often immature twists on real life situations. For some of us it’s even a means of taking
our deepest, darkest pain and finding a way to creatively find the humor in it
and relay that to an audience. A kind of
therapy that helps us get it all out an laugh instead of cry.
When
you drive over a bridge, or step into an elevator, or hop on a rollercoaster
have you ever stopped to think who of how could someone have possibly thought
to create these things? Someone had to
tap into their imagination and shart out the ideas. Though technologically complex breakthroughs,
they still required someone to tap into that side of their brain that never
grew up; that side of their brain that can still play and create impossible
images and bring them to life.
Even
when things aren’t possible to actually create in the living world, they can
still be created in other formats for us to get lost in; books, movies, tv
shows, videogames, comics, etc. Where
would we be without Spielberg, Lucas, Cameron, Tolkein, Steinbeck, Clark, Kane,
Ball, Letterman, Rodenberry, etc? We
would be a group of bored individuals I tell you what. We indulge in these things because we like to
escape to a reality that doesn’t exist because, for lack of a better word, it’s
fun.
I have a friend;
beautiful as the anything you could imagine and smarter than the average, or
even above average human being. A
scholar in social justice, a mother, and is destined for greatness. She’s stern and to the point; to try and
argue anything with her his suicide and your balls are bound to be verbally cut
off. That being said when we sit down to
watch a movie she fidgets, yells, laughs, talks to the screen…she get’s fully emerged
in what she’s watching and embraces the experience to the full effect. Her inner child comes out completely and isn’t
held back. Seeing someone who is
otherwise quite intimidating to the average person become a nine year old is
one of the greatest things I have ever laid my eyes on and there’s no one I
would rather enjoy a movie with. Her imagination
is fully intact and I can only imagine the great things that will be
accomplished by combining that and her social justice prerogatives.
I really want to
keep going on and on as I have a lot more to say, but I’ll spare you anymore
rant and get to the point, which is this: if your kid tells you they sharted,
laugh, it’s funny. Don’t hold them back
from enjoying their own creativity, you never know when that shart will lead
them to building a bridge or a rollercoaster.
And don’t hold yourself back either.
We may be adults, but don’t for one second underestimate a child’s
genius, they have it figured out a lot better than we do. Embrace your inner child from time to time,
because in the midst of all the bullshit we have to deal with on a daily basis
and important adult decisions we have to make, there will always be a part of
us that’s at the second star to the right, and straight on til morning. We owe it to ourselves to spend time there to
stay sane.
Now with all that
being said I must now excuse myself as I have indeed just sharted because I do
indeed…suck. (new FUCKING underwear…)