Missing Magic

This weekend I took a little time to look through an old journal. It was fascinating to read how much I trusted and believed that anything was possible. I knew there was a life path for me that I had no doubt I would find, and when I did, my life's meaning would be fulfilled. I smiled as I thought of how naive and optimistic I once was. That was back before I moved to Boston, back to when my world was Utah, and even back before I had chosen a major. In other words I had not yet experienced anything in my life, and that was when I believed in magic.

What do I mean by magic? Well, what does a magician do? He performs the impossible. We all know you can't pull a rabbit from a hat. Yet a magician can do it. You can't saw a person in half and then put them back together without harming them. Yet a magician can do it. A magician laughs at the thought of impossible because he/she knows how to harness magic. If a person believes in magic there is no such things a limitations. Anything is possible.

As children we often experienced magic in our everyday lives. Impossible things happened around us all the time. Almost everything you learned in school or in lessons or from the older kids at first seemed impossible. Take for instance riding a bike. You can't tell me the first time you got on one of those things you weren't absolutely convinced that magic was the only way those things stayed up right. Yet 10,000 bruises and a concussion later, you too could do the impossible. Add to that everyone in your life--teachers, parents, and even Mr. Rogers-- told you everyday that you could be anything you wanted. You were capable of absolutely anything. You my friend had magic in your back pocket and the world was a beautiful, exciting place.

I'm not sure when it happens, but eventually the magic starts to fade. Perhaps you just get caught up with the necessities of life. Or perhaps you suffer too many set backs, but eventually you start to look at the impossible as, well, impossible. And that's when the magic is gone. Some adults are better at holding on to it than others. I for one want to hold onto magic until the very end. But I must admit my magic supply is running low, and I can tell you the world is bleak without magic. I want to continue to believe that the impossible is indeed possible, and I will because I believe having magic in your life is a choice. Look for it, and I can assure you that you too will see it. And once you can see it, you'll see it everywhere, even in your own life. So here's to a return of magic and the belief that anything is possible.