๐๐ก๐๐ง ๐๐จ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐k ๐๐ซ๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐, ๐๐ฑ๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐ข๐ฆ๐๐ง๐ญ, ๐๐ ๐๐จ๐จ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฌ๐ก?
Play is how we begin our lives as children – we spend untold hours entertaining ourselves in stuff (or at least, I and my generation did).
We explored the world, tried things just to see what happened. We used out imaginations to create worlds and games and stories and wars and families and all sorts of things.
Then, as we grow up, play becomes a thing you donโt do. โStop playing aroundโ you get told at school, then at work. But play is really important, not just for the fun, but for the creativity and the lightness and the value of play as an end in itself.
There was a song around when I was little called โPuff The Magic Dragonโ by Peter, Paul and Mary (1963) that contains this section:
๐ ๐ฅ๐ณ๐ข๐จ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ญ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ด ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐ต๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐บ๐ด
๐๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐จ๐ช๐ข๐ฏ๐ต’๐ด ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐บ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฐ๐บ๐ด
๐๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ณ๐ข๐บ ๐ฏ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ช๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฅ, ๐๐ข๐ค๐ฌ๐ช๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ค๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ
๐๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ถ๐ง๐ง, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฎ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต๐บ ๐ฅ๐ณ๐ข๐จ๐ฐ๐ฏ, ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ง๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ข๐ณ
I always felt this was a sad tale but growing-up is inevitable I supposed. But thereโs another verse that oddly I donโt recall hearing that says this:
๐๐ช๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ญ๐ช๐ง๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ ๐ง๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ, ๐๐ถ๐ง๐ง ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ
๐๐ฐ ๐๐ถ๐ง๐ง, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฎ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต๐บ ๐ฅ๐ณ๐ข๐จ๐ฐ๐ฏ, ๐ด๐ข๐ฅ๐ญ๐บ ๐ด๐ญ๐ช๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ค๐ข๐ท๐ฆ
What strikes me is that โPuff, that mighty dragon, sadly slipped into his caveโ. Playfulness, creativity, wonder, imagination doesnโt die, it doesn’t vanish, but it hides in a cave inside us.
Playfulness is STILL THERE waiting for us to rediscover it.
So my Sunday thought is this: what would happen if we went looking for our playfulness, for out imaginary dragons or old?
