People, Robots & Gardens

My 2yr old built a garden world for a robot. Earth, rocks and plants. Moving, changing, rearranging, imagineering. Giving time, writing a story. The whole process whispers to me a reminder of a place and time Iʻve never been. One at the foundation of life. The genesis of story. A place of beauty and wonder, a place to sculpt and design and share. A place created by one for another to enjoy. A garden.

Maybe thatʻs why weʻre so drawn to places like Hawaii or Highway 46. Or why weʻre motivated on a Saturday morning to dig dirt and tend grass in our own backyards. Because thereʻs something more to the greens and browns, thereʻs something poetic and ethereal. The idea that weʻve been given something beautiful. That itʻs a gift to care for and to share. And to develop. And to give. So a robot can fight aliens. So a boy can play.

Itʻs just not realistic.

A story caught my attention this morning that tells of a town not far from Motor City that lives without cars. (Good http://ow.ly/6cRb)

Itʻs called Mackinac Island and itʻs inertia with a tourism industry. People peddle, walk and horse around the 4mi island choosing simplicity and hydro-electricity over growth and consumption.

"Weʻre not interpretive history, weʻre immersion history," states historian/resident Bob Tagatz. "Youʻre in a place that looks like it did 100yrs ago and will look the same in 100 more."

Now Iʻm definitely more of a futurist than a preservation activist but thereʻs actually something rather progressive about a community that can live without cars.

Could more of us do this? Could communities shrink back down to places of geographical proximity, relational reliability and neighborhood? Townhall meetings, block parties and barn raisers?

The cliche answer to anything that isnʻt now is that "itʻs just not realistic." But consider this, that unless youʻre reading this via a hand written letter from Google in a field somewhere, most of whatʻs around you was once victimized by the same label.

Unrealistic is merely a catalyst in the art of ideation and imagineering. And but an antagonist of what is known as faith.

Whatʻs your "unrealistic"? Can you see what is not yet seen?

Dream up a new story. There are no penalties for re-writes.