Playful Warriors
Imagination is our only weapon in the war against reality. ~~Lewis Carroll
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Children are warriors for fantasy. Fighters that use imagination against the mundane. Unruly and often unwashed champions for impossibility.
They come together on playgrounds, strategizing how to protect their castle from the ravaging rules of the monitor and black magic of the eighth graders. Monkey bars span a moat filled with lava. Seesaws are loaded with poisonous bundles of woodchips and leaves (one touch and you're a goner). Should the fortress fall to their foul foes, it's valiant knights are punished with banishment down the slide to the Neververse.
All this happens in the span of one recess. Adults call it "exercise".
Errands become journeys to intergalactic markets. That's why kids demand snacks when they get into a car. They want to be prepared for the possibility of being stranded on a world without goldfish crackers. If their ship does make it to to a market, they're prepared to touch and sample the wares each visiting species has set out. Minus the "chili". Every kid knows that that's just a concoction that turns you into a Durkaslug. (Pleftisans are well known for dining on human turned Durkaslugs.)
All of the wonders (and perils) of several galaxies can be had in one store. Adults call this "buying groceries".
Children know that the best way to travel across the skies isn't in an airplane, but on the back of a fire breathing dragon. Nothing can compare to the agility of the magnificent beast as it soars across oceans and through clouds, dodging lightning bolts thrown by a powerful god. They know the joy of feeling the wind in their face as they take in the beauty of the world (and laugh at the people who look like ants below).
This all took place in a tiny backyard. Adults call it "playing".
It's more fun than "adulting".
art and flair courtesy of @PegasusPhysics
