Worlds Are Waiting

August: On Wonder and AweAugust 19Reading the fantasy stories of Jacques’ Redwall, Tolkien’s Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire, Haydon’s Symphony of Ages, and countless comic books, stole me away from a life that I sometimes did not wish to inhabit, and thrust me into fantastical worlds and realms with magic, sorcery, powers, heroes, villains, and breathtaking landscapes. As I was reading these stories, I became other people. The young boy from Amityville became a holy knight of Redwall Abbey, a brave and humble hobbit from the Shire, a stoic bastard son of nobility from Winterfell, or a roguish card-slinging mutant from Louisiana. Living these lives gave me a break from my own. Like for so many people, they allowed me time to breathe, to step away from the yelling and the violence, from the schoolwork and the bullies. They brought me to places I never could have imagined. They shocked me with the unthinkable evils enacted by villains, and they widened my eyes and dropped my jaw with the brave and selfless and noble deeds of the heroes. They filled my young mind (and now my 40-year-old mind) with wonder.Read every chance you get. It’s wonderful to take in stories through other media, but reading is something special in its own right. It’s a deeply human thing sending another’s thoughts directly into your brain, and it’s one of our superpowers—granting us the ability to live another life, to inhabit other worlds, and to learn so much about others and ourselves in doing so. Reflection title: Worlds Are WaitingCreative inspiration:  George R.R. Martin, A Dance with DragonsReflection question: What lives have I lived through reading? How has it helped me? Can I forgo other uses of time like television and social media to read more?