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The Idea and the Thing
Early tomorrow morning we'll all pile into the family car and head out on our annual beach vacation.
I pre-paid for the vacation last year, so we've had many months to look forward to it! Every week at least, when something bad or unlucky happened, someobdy would say something like "Just wait! In a few months we'll be sitting happy at the beach, listening to the ocean!"
Our vacation has stood like an icon in our collective imagination, spurring us on.
So now the day is upon us! Tomorrow the adventure begins. Or is that correct? Really tomorrow the adventure ENDS. For up until then, we've had a wonderful idea of what a vacation would be like. Starting tomorrow, we get the real thing. And you know what? The real thing never can match up to your imagination.
So we trade the idea for the thing. We trade our dreams for our reality. Soon enough, somebody will get sick, somebody will get mad at somebody else, or somebody will be unhappy. There's simply no way our dream has any chance to survive.
People need dreams. People need hope, and they need their imagination and optimism. I'm not trying to be too melodramatic here. Stuff happens and life goes on. But i do think it is important to realize, every now and then, that ideas are much more powerful than reality ever could be.
Hey! This vacation has surpassed our expectations and I only got mad at you once;)