Since “childhood” is such a broad time category, I’ll focus on one specific idea that grabbed hold of me from movies, books, stories, and my imagination: I was obsessed with possibilities.
I was obsessed with what was possible.
When I saw the movie Hook (if you haven’t seen the Steven Spielberg and Robin Williams “Peter Pan” sequel, go out and see it immediately), I became convinced that human flight was a possibility. My sister and I would jump off couches, beds, and boxes at ever-exceeding heights to “awaken” our flying capabilities. When I saw the movie Grease, I became convinced that young love is expressed through dramatic gestures of affection – always accompanied by song.
When the Left Behind book series came out, I was haunted by the existential possibility that I was “living in the end-times.” Being a young Baptist and incapable of understanding the subtleties of the scripture, I was terrified by the possibility that I would not be worthy before God.
When I saw Robin Williams doing stand-up comedy on a rerun of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, I realized that making people laugh could be a way of life.
Possibility is both a wonderful and a terrifying thing to be obsessed with as a kid. Because your entire world is already full of possibilities. Every adult wants to know “what you want to be when you grow up” or “what do you love doing?” As we age, it is easy to forget how strange and wonderful it was being a kid. How much influence small or improperly presented ideas can have on your understanding of the world. I don’t know if I have ever grown out of that obsession; it’s just been tamed with age.
As a new father, I wonder what my son will be obsessed with. What will be his first callings of longing? What will be his first brush with the liminal? In what ideas will he find possibility in the impossible?
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