Magic

We live in a world filled with wonders of technology that twenty years ago would have seemed like magic (and still do to me), yet many people seem to take them for granted. "Ho-hum, another miracle of technology (stifling a yawn). Pass me my i-pad please." It makes sense that the young who have never known any better might feel this way, but as a representative of the older set, I still give a shake of the head when wielding such amazing power.

I could be wrong (it happened once or twice before, lol), but it seems to me most people do not look for magic in their life. Perhaps magic seems unpredictable, and dangerous because it might take you places you have not imagined, places where you have to figure out your own path, or worst of all, you won't fit in because you will not be normal. It sounds cynical to think this, but in my opinion, media wants us to be dependent on them for our entertainment, for our opinions and ultimately for any magic in our lives.

Fear of real magic seems to fly in the face of popular entertainment. After all what series of books and movies has been more popular than Harry Potter? We seem very happy to read about and watch programs about warlocks, witches, vampires, werewolves, at least, we love to watch it in others on the screen, but only as long as we can go back to safety afterwords.

Personally, I love to escape into a good story, mostly because it recharges my own capacity for magic. Safety is not a bad place, as long as I don't have to live there all the time.

As Calie mentioned in her post Literary Escapism..., it has been my pleasure to follow along on a number of book selections she has suggested. Among these, the Sookie Stackhouse novels have been enjoyable for me because they are written by a woman, Charlaine Harris and to my mind her target audience is also female. I never had a chance to be the little girl (even if I did hang out with them as much as I could), and as a teenager, there was no chance to experience that viewpoint at all. Whatever the complex reasons are, I really enjoy them, as I do the "In Death" series Calie mentioned in the same blog post, also written by a woman from a female perspective.

Real magic takes many forms and often appears when you least expect it. A friend of mine's son, a single parent, is doing his best to raise two autistic pre-teens. Talk about having to be pleased with small gains! He gets a little help from family, and the school system is making progress finding ways to reach such children. His life defies the norms. At some point, he and those two children may be featured on the mainstream media, because there is a market for stories that defy the norm, even when no one wants to live those stories.

In my humble opinion, with few exceptions, the folk who blog here, and comment here, are looking for and/or have found real magic in their lives by allowing themselves to accept and explore another side to their personalities. Sometimes it doesn't feel very magical, but let's face it, for the magician the magic gets to be commonplace after a while.

We magicians need to be reminded every now and then how really exceptional our world is; not something that should be hidden and painful.

Whether it be seeing and talking to loved ones who are thousands of miles away, or feeling your autistic grandchild's first hug, real magic is all around.

Sometimes it is hard to recognize and appreciate it.