“Why do you write so much as happiness? Do you believe words are harmless, that they won’t have consequences? People will laugh at you in time.”
“I believe words shape thoughts. I believe thoughts shape worlds. I am writing the world I want to see. Why would I want to write it ugly?”
“Because that is how it is!”
“Not everything, not always, and where you see ugliness, can we not as readily turn around and set our sights on something that is Wonder?”
“But how can you turn away from all that is ugly and wrong and not want to do all you can to change it?”
“Because it detracts and deadens the good that is already present. How can you turn your back on all that is good and beautiful? How can you not embrace and bring to light all that is Wonder around us and, in holding it in light, help it furthermore to grow? My answer to yours is the same as yours to mine.”
“And what is that?”
“We choose. We decide to see different worlds by the choice we make in setting as the standard for our sight. Do you feel empowered in holding witness to all that is ugly? Do you feel righteous calling out all that is wrong? Does such righteousness advance a better end? What do we gain in judgment and condemnation without advancing an end to something better? When we do, we deign to deliberate despair.”
“What do you feel seeing a fairytale?”
“What every fairytale holds.”
“And what is that?”
“Magic. I see magic. I hold wonder, amazement in all that has no reason to exist…but does. Condemnation is self-righteousness for a feeling over something we may judge but cannot affect.
In a fairytale, among magic and wonder, we are humbled—even when we sense the story is of us. There are powers beyond us. There are powers within us, and we don’t know where the line is drawn. It is still being learned.
You ask if I believe my words are harmless, if they won’t have consequences, but we both believe the answer.”
“And what is that?”
“They do. You and I both believe my words will have consequences, that they are not harmless but hold effect. The difference is what we perceive such effects to be. My words shape an end to divergent states, the worlds that we both see: ugliness or wonder. Ugliness is despair for the present and condescension for what is to come. Wonder is gratitude in the living and hope in what may by. If I draw others nearer to the vision that I write, it changes sights. It turns them from the ugliness you project and demand the world make as its focus. It centers them instead to see again all that is good and beautiful, already present—everywhere—around them.
We see different worlds. Maybe we want different ends. I don’t know what you hope the future holds. In criticizing my small act of words, you—whether you know it or not—say I should not be a shaper of, but conditioned by, fates.
I write because I am not victim to an ugly world. Writing, I am a Shaper of a better one to come. We both believe in the power of words. In their power, you hold fear while I—hope. I write fairytales because I believe the greatest truth they teach.”
“What?”
“That Good defeats Evil in the end.”