Fairytales

I haven’t blogged for a while (OK, a really long time), because my life became generally crazy busy until I left Exeter to come home. Now I find myself with a lot more time on my hands, so here are my latest ponderings :-) :

Fairytales. Everyone has heard at least one in their life, I bet. Tales of impossible people achieving impossible things. Tales of damsels in distress, wicked witches, brave knights, dragons, fairies, and countless other impossible creatures. Tales in “once upon a time”, when no one can remember, when there were shining castles in every town, when girls wore long, flowing dresses, and princes rode around on horseback in silver armour. 

When I was younger, just like most other kids, I wanted to be in my own fairytale. I used to dress up in long flowing skirts (or curtains…), and pretend that I was Cinderella, or Sleeping Beauty. Then when I grew up a bit, I equipped myself with a wand (or a few pencils tied together), and wanted to be the Fairy Godmother. Then, as I grew even older, I realised that it wasn’t going to happen. Because fairytales aren’t real, and can only happen in that “once upon a time” that no one remembers. Imagine Cinderella now: she’d be more likely to be sick in a pumpkin than travel home in one, and would probably break one of her shoes and get glass in her foot. And there are no dragons or wicked queens to battle (well, not here, at any rate).

This life-shattering realisation happens to all children at some point in their childhood. That fairytales are just that, tales. All the hope, all the dreams and enthusiasm that those first childhood stories bring is all snatched away, along with Santa Claus, the tooth fairy, the Easter bunny, and every other impossible character doing impossible things.  

But what no one tells these disillusioned kids, is that actually, fairytales can be real. Maybe not in their original format, with their original characters, but they can. Here in the real world, people do accomplish impossible things every day. We may not have magic wands or powers, but we know how to make impossible things like big metal boxes that can fly (aeroplanes), or small boxes that connect us to the world (telephones). We don’t fight dragons, or evil sorcerers, but we do daily battle with someone much more powerful: ourselves. Each day we have a million choices to make, and the harder ones can be more of a struggle than fighting any monster. Our demons aren’t in an enchanted forest, or deep inside a cave, they’re in our own heads. And fighting those is a lot harder than fighting something in the flesh.

So no, maybe fairytales aren’t real, but who needs a fairy godmother and glass shoes when you have the power to create worlds, to imagine, to love, and simply just to live? Impossible people, doing impossible things, to create what they believe is a better world for themselves. Sounds pretty fairytale-like to me.