“… these losses, severe though they may be, remind us of what no person can take, and that is our minds and our imaginations.”
Daniel stuck up his hand.
“Yes, Daniel?”
“Where are our imaginations?”
“Out there, Daniel… … And in here.”
“Close your eyes,” he said to Daniel, “and in a voice only you can hear, say your name. Say it to yourself only.”
“Let’s all do it,” said Mr Watts. “Close your eyes and silently recite your name.”
The sound of my name took me to a place inside my head. I already new that words could take you into a new world, but I didn’t know that on the strength of one word spoken for my ears only I would find myself in a room that no one else knew about.
I do not know what you are supposed to do with memories like these. It feels wrong to want to forget. Perhaps this is why we write these things down, so we can move on.
But at this point I am always reminded of what Mr Watts once told us kids about what it is to be a gentleman. It is an old-fashioned view. Others, and these days I include myself, will want to substitute ‘gentleman’ with ‘moral person’. He said that to be human is to be moral, and you cannot have a day off when it suits.
~ Lloyd Jones, Mister Pip