The Doctor Who Saved My Soul

Doctor Who, for those that don’t know, is one of the most popular television shows in the world.  It originates from Britain, and is actually celebrating it beginning 50 years ago....  I don’t see how its not the longest running show ever....

When I first saw it, there was nothing on TV like it, especially not in the USA.  The humor was not only funny, but incredibly smart, filled with all sorts of wonderful imagination.  After watching that show, way back in the 80s, I grew a sort of disdain for the television shows in the US....

The World is Built on Imagination

Somewhere along the way, I started collecting knowledge.  My brain just soaks it up from all over the place.  And somehow, along the same way, I proved Einstein right....  It all comes down to me having that childhood I discussed in The Time I Learned How to Pretend to Smile.

Einstein once said that, “Imagination is more important than knowledge.”  I know I use that quote a lot, but wow, what a quote....

(poem) - Knowledge's Famine

We need more
Lovers of fiction
Because the worst thing
Is taking art out of education

Parents clip the wings
Of their child’s sweet dreams
So they grow stunted
And believe the blaspheme



After childhood I awoke
To a world in dire agony
Where lies are on everyone’s lips
Being the antagonist’s progeny

The problem is
That very analogy
‘Waking up from childhood’
Undermines imagination, you see?

Imagination is what
Makes the world go ‘round
Okay, maybe that stretching
But its why we know what we found

Science is based
On understanding what we don’t
Imagining a world
In which applied physics work.

Without that imagination
We’d still be in the dark ages
Branding those that look beyond the horizon
As ignorant rather than sage



I know what I’m talking about
For I have lived a life
Where my imagination ran free
And though I have seen strife

I have also seen beauty
Beyond any compare
And seen the eyes of the ignorant
With that dull stare

I know what it means
To be looked down upon
Because I’ve dreamed too big
And seen what’s beyond the horizon

I lived my life
Free of the chains
That have bound the ignorant
To their own constrains

And for this I was blessed
Beyond what you can imagine
Because you have abandoned imagination
To knowledge’s true famine.

--Dan

--Want more Poetry?  Check out my Poetry Collection Page!

The time I learned how to pretend to smile.

Most people don’t know this, but I went through a very large portion of my life, faking laughter and smiles.  I actually got quite good at it.  At times, its hard not to think about that period of my life as the ‘dark time’ but the fact is, there was quite a bit of good in it.

During that time, I had completely given up on happiness, and started to acquire habits that were extremely hard to get rid of.  I suppose that’s how its supposed to work, the whole idle hands thing.



The most interesting part about this is, though, that I’d bet most don’t know when that time was for me.  I guess that’s also kinda sad, as this period of my life was the most influential of any other time in my life.

You know the old psychology question, “If life is a play, and everyone has their part, what part do you play?”  Are you the lead character?  Are you a supporting character?  Are an antagonist?  Lets get a bit outside the box, are you maybe the director?  Script writer?  Producer?  Better yet...what part do you think I play?

During the most unhappy portion of my life, I learned that I was the audience.  That’s right, I’m the one sitting in the crowd watching it all.

The cool thing is, I pay attention, I learn from watching other people’s mistakes.  I’ve watched romances, death, degradation, and hilarity.  I’ve witnessed just about every plot life can throw at someone.  I watched how people reacted in those situations, and came up with conclusions.

Then, I hit highschool.  Suddenly, I could answer people’s life’s questions.  They’d come to me for all manor of questions, and I could sit back, think about it, and give them an honest answer.  Suddenly I was a ‘wise man’ that could help even the most lost individual.

It was an odd transition, going from this well of unhappiness, of being lost in life, of just existing, to what I became.  I pulled together friends from all aspects of highschool life, and somehow we formed a family.  The nerdy smart kids hung around with some jocks who hung around with the creative outcasts.  And we all sat at the same table at lunch, far away from the cafeteria.



During that time of unhappiness, there WERE moments of joy, but they were few and far between.  I would wear a particular piece of clothing to school every day, and somehow identify with it.  On the weekends I had friends outside of school, the neighborhood kids, to hang with.  I had video games and Star Trek The Next Generation.  My imagination ran free and wild, and I sat back and watched life happen for so many people.

I’ve always said that one must appreciate the darkness within their own soul to truly understand the light.  I have met people in life, that saw the darkness behind my eyes, and got scared and ran from my life.  I’ve met those that were attracted to it for all the wrong reasons.

What I can tell you is this.  I wouldn’t change my life, because it made me who I am.  It definitely wasn’t a horrible life, just at times it just overflowed with unhappiness, which isn’t exactly sadness.  I’d do it all again for sure, without hesitation.  Life is special and beautiful, and to think about it versus never existing, seems ludicrous on an insane level.  I am who I am because I was allowed to become me naturally.  Its hard not to be grateful, awe-inspired, and moved all at the same time.  And it all happened, because I lived a portion of my life, where I had to learn how to fake laughter and smilies.

The Completion of Ourself

One of the things I direly wished for in a life partner was the ability to bounce ideas off, and have ideas bounced off in return.  When I discovered Lisa, I wondered, deep down, if I had found this rare quality....

Once, in what seems like a very long time ago, I was stuck in writing this massive fantasy novel, which I never completed because of other reasons.  But, that’s not the point.  The point is, I was stuck.  I had written myself into corner.  And honestly, I was lost.