thoughts

Still just a fantasy

As kids, our worlds were filled with dreams. Play and fantasy, with simple goals and simple meaning. And even the darkest of fantasies had a silver lining. A world of heroes, white horses, and always the ever after.

Then we grow up, and slowly realize that the world is nothing like that. The glorious destinies aren't there. The good guys and girls seldom win, and even when they do, there is no prince/princess at the end of the rainbow. And we realize that suffering has nothing to do with fighting evil, it is just a natural part of the fabric of life. You do not get praised and honored as the hero for overcoming difficult tasks, you just get another one. It is no wonder that so many teens write diaries, with line upon line of sentences like "why does the world seems so grey and lonely?". Questioning the meaning of it all... Cause the dreams were only dreams. Fantasies and fiction.

You can't think too much about it, or depression will get you. So, instead we try to argue that there is still meaning. We do so by creating narratives around everyday things, like politics, economy, family, culture, religion. Narratives that might at first be loosely based on reality, but slowly get so complex, that at some point we begin to think they are real. So real that we begin to fight over them. And when we fight, the old childhood dreams get reawakened. If we tell ourselves that other religions or political parties are evil, then we can be the hero once more. And suddenly the world has meaning. We can have our ever after. Even though it is still just a fantasy...