Swing sets and merry-g-rounds. These are our challenges. How high can you swing, how fast can you spin? These are our accomplishments. Our happiness is measured in moments like these where the world is our own and nothing can stand in our way. Youth is invincible because it isn’t measured by the years we’ve achieved but the state of open-mindedness we have mastered and refuse to let go.
Sitting in the sand, marking my territory with personalized petroglyphs, I revel in my existence as a member of the world. The lines of my creation counter the angles of the jungle gym and dance with shadows of passers by. A citizen of the Earth, I can create as I choose and become what I desire for my imagination knows no bounds. When being a pirate is yesterday’s news and mad science is a passing fad, I play the role of Ancient Egyptian searching for my wayward adventurer to stumble across my domain. The people of my civilization are not separated by class of nobility and servitude, but measured in greatness by the love that we share.
Of the people living within my reign, one man stands at my right hand. He is no less and no more in status than I because he is my equal. He is I and I am him for once true equality is achieved, there can be no separation. Where I go, he will follow and where he treads, I will trail. My companion is my wayward adventure. He is my first mate. He is my lab assistant. I love him beyond measure because our adventures are innumerable and our infinite moments of happiness are accessible only through our partnered attempts.
With the world at my fingertips and creation in my palms, like many before me, I wish for more. Surprise is not experienced I’m sure for this is the true nature of man. We want what we can’t achieve and once we’ve achieved all we desire more. These are not new ideas and this is not an outlandish state of mind because I am you and you are me as we are equals that share these words. Still, in my philosophical playground, the desire for something extra resounds ever-present in my adolescent mind.
I am worthless and that makes me feel invincible. If my worth is calculated by the experiences I’ve had, then with innumerable and immeasurable adventures under my belt the value of my worth can never be found. Thus, I am worthless. And what I desire is a who as worthless as I.
My companions are my own but they cannot create. I cannot give them free will. I am a powerless God. My first mate and wayward adventurer can stand by my side through triumph and turmoil, but he will disappear as soon as I lose concentration. He is a figment of my imagination, my true imaginary friend if you will, but I am well aware of this notion unlike some before me. The body of a child with the mind of a scholar is my blessing and curse. Well aware of my position in the world, I search for my true equal. The experiences I can have would increase exponentially with a true, tangible companion. Someone I can touch, and I can see, and I can love as my equal is my real desire.
Fending off my peers that lack my understanding of creation is the daily challenge I face. Their stares and insults and childish antics pierce holes through my world with daggers of reality. Hard as I may try to rebuild my kingdom, the columns come crumbling down without a companion to work as my foundation. Try as I might, I cannot make real my imaginary right hand man. It is impossible to force his traits into a living being, but as I have created his soul and essence and sent it out into the ether of the world I can only wait for my creation to be absorbed by another who will in turn become my soul mate. A mating of souls thus codified due to the creation of his soul by my soul and absorbed by who will become my companion.
I can now only wait with open optimism for my creation to take flight and find homage in a suitable vessel. This is my charge and until the successful transplanting of souls comes to fruition, I will continue marking the Earth and bending my reality. Alone and unafraid I anticipate his arrival for my work is done. I have created the magnum opus of my era, flawless in all aspects of preparation. With this knowledge I am content to be. Alone if my nomadic creation never finds a home and hopeful and proud for the day that he does. Struck and stoned by the adolescent minds around me, I can no longer be harmed. I have found my invincible youth and I will never let it go.
