Many of us, no doubt, have been wondering during the past year whether there are any blessings to be found underneath the complex layers of the COVID-19 pandemic. After all, our lives have been disrupted in so many ways, sometimes in catastrophic form. One gift, perhaps, is that the pandemic has sharpened our wish to imagine life’s possibilities beyond the immediate challenges we face. And that’s what we hear from sixteen-year-old Annika Eriksen.
Annika Eriksen is in the tenth grade at North Kingstown High School in Rhode Island.
I believe in dragons, towering castles, and waterfalls that fall right off the edge of the world. In other words, I believe in imagination. Every day we are faced with the concrete facade of buildings and the endless gray of highways. I am not saying that our everyday world is necessarily bland, but it takes a little work to see the more beautiful things. On the side of that highway there might be exquisite trees or flowers, but if you are always looking straight ahead you will never see them. The banality of our world is only perceived by those who don’t try to look for anything else.
When I was little, I always hated sitting in the waiting room at the doctor’s office. I was nervous for my upcoming shot, the room smelled weird, and they were always playing the same movie, Finding Nemo. On top of that, I was really bored. I probably would still resent that waiting room if it weren’t for something I noticed. One wall of the room was covered in a beautiful mural. It showed a river with gondolas and lights and people dancing about as if at a festival. The people were so small that their faces weren’t depicted, so I made up stories about who they were and what they were doing. Soon the doctor called my name, and I hadn’t even realized twenty minutes had passed.
As I grew up, I realized that my imagination could be put to use finding solutions for difficult problems or just entertaining me on a rainy day. It has helped me see so much potential for the world, all of life’s possibilities, and what I can be as I travel my journey.
I hesitate to use such an overused analogy, but it certainly seems true that so many people today live inside of their own personal box. They go to work, do their job, come home, and go to sleep. Too often they don’t notice the way the ocean breeze smells or that the work they are doing could be made more interesting and meaningful. They can’t imagine life being any other way. I believe that people who step out of their box, people who dare to imagine life a little differently, succeed.
