So here I am, creating a little fantasy – a room in a beach house which we no longer have, a room where I watched the
wildlife through the open door, listened to the ocean and wrote; a house that I have missed so much I have never been back to the neighborhood since we were forced to sell it five years ago after Superstorm Sandy.
But it is just that, a fantasy.
Today I sit in a room with all the comforts of my former writing space –a wooden desk, a comfortable chair, pictures on the wall I was able to salvage and a window from which I can see the birds and squirrels eating whatever has been set out for them. But it is not the room I loved, and it is missing the heart of the neighborhood - the ocean.
Many years ago there was an episode of Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood in which Mr. Rogers explained to children the difference between fantasy and reality by showing them that he did not really live in his TV house or in the Neighborhood. He shared with them that he had a house of his own in which he lived and that, on TV, he was actually creating fantasy.
He helped them understand the wonderful elements of fantasy and imagination, and encouraged them to learn the difference.
As one author noted, Mr. Rogers knew it is important even for children to understand that a curtain exists and sometimes you have to peek behind it.
We are not children. We should know this already, and for the sake of our children we need to pull back the curtain on the Trump administration’s fantasy world and see the reality – lies, deception, manipulation, fraud, deaths and dereliction of duty.
Be like Fred Rogers. Reveal the truth.
Marcus Winkler photo on Unsplash.
