Monday, February 18, 2013

"I almost Sharted!"

                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…)