Your Imagination at Work


When I was younger, around age 8, I can remember every Sunday afternoon my dad would mow our yard and weed trim it as well. I can remember I would always want to help him and act like I was mowing as well. My dad bought be a toy mower and weed trimmer and I can remember always helping him make the yard look better by following next to him with my mower. Every Sunday he would mow I would ask him if he needed my help and of course he said yes. I can remember walking next to him or behind him as he mowed and I would pretend that my mower was making sure it was cutting all the pieces of grass that my dad missed. I also remember when my dad replaced our real mower with a new one. I asked him if we could replace mine as well because it was time for an upgrade, and of course I got a new one. I looked forward to helping "mow" every Sunday and in my imagination I was helping my dad by following him and keeping him company-and of course trying to be just like him.

As an adult, creativity is something we do all the time and it is something that can help us solve problems when we need help the most. Over Christmas break I worked at the feedmill that I have worked at for the past five years and I ran into a situation that needed immediate attention and creativeness. I was mixing feed in our mixer and the liquid fat switch had been running without me knowing. When I walked over to the mixer their was fat all over the floor and flowing out of the mixer. First, I knew this wasn't good because I could not waste all of this fat. Second, I knew I had to clean this up quickly before it stuck to the floor too long to where I would not be able to get it up easily. So I took ground corn that was already in a pile on the floor and I shoveled it onto the fat. I let it soak up for about an hour and then I took a scrapper and was able to get all of the fat off of the floor by using the ground corn to stick to it. Next, I wanted to make sure the ground corn and fat would not go to waste so I ran it through an auger and put it back into the mixer. Pig feed uses ground corn and fat so I was able to use my mess with the next feed order. Besides the time it took me to clean up the mess, nothing was wasted in terms of feed material. I felt like a messy situation turned into a successful clean up.

The most recent superhero moment I can remember when someone thought on their feet quickly was in the Captain America film. Steve was in the alley and in a fight and needed to defend himself quickly so he used a trash can lid to defend himself. I thought it was creative because he worked with what he had around him and used something that would later defend him when he became Captain America.

The "Fiction Suit"

It was senior night and we had to win the football game to make it to the playoffs for the first time in 12 years. We we're playing at Mosher Memorial Field in Prophetstown and it was Erie-Prophetstown against Sterling Newman. Their were five of us seniors including myself. Vinnie had rushed for 100 yards coming into the 4th quarter and I had thrown for 250 yards passing with two touchdowns to Kyle and Justin. Chris was a senior wide receiver who never got playing time because of his disability. Chris only had one arm but boy he could run fast. Their were two minutes left in the 4th quarter and we were up seven points. Coach had us run the clock out to ensure the win but told me the last play was whatever I wanted it to be. As we huddled up I told Chris to run a wheel route and I would pump fake hard on the first move. We broke the huddle and I noticed Newman had dropped into cover 4 so it would be difficult for Chris to get open, let alone catch the ball if the pass wasn't perfect. I called the cadence and Chris broke open on the move, I threw the ball in the air and watched it as it went in slow motion. The ball was over thrown too much but suddenly Chris had used his speed to catch up to it and as he jumped in the air he had pulled it down! Invisible kid had been there and helped Chris catch the ball by using one of his hands. As Chris had ran into the end zone for his first and last career touchdown I was speechless....Shortly after we had gotten into the lockeroom and everyone had showered I found myself to be the last one walking out of the school. There invisible kid stood, I told him I was grateful for what he had done. He told me he wanted to make someone feel special, and that he had done. I bent down to tie my shoes and when I looked up invisible kid was gone. All I wondered was, where is he now and who is he helping?

Telling a Friend

I told two of my friends, at the same time, how much they mean to me and how much I care about them even if its something that I don't show to them visually. It personally made me feel good inside that I got this out because it is something that I have thought about before but I am not usually very good at telling people things personally, I tend to get embarrassed or shy-even though their is no reason to. When I told them I explained why I was doing it, only so I could "break the ice" and not just randomly tell them. It was difficult for me to just tell them out of no where so that's why I chose to tell them why I was doing it-even though it was something that I wanted them to know. As I said before I am not one to tell someone how I feel about them normally but it is something that I do think about. And by telling them how I feel is a good feeling personally because now I know that they have that understanding that we are true friends.

Reflection #3

I liked Jordan's post last week about lying and whether if it's okay to lie and at what point you have to draw the line. What I find interesting about this topic is be loyal? Or be honest? I was always raised to tell the truth no matter what the situation is and good things will come. I was also raised to be loyal and keep those that you love close to you.

Being honest sometimes can be tough can't it? If your friend comes up to you with a terrible haircut, and you both know it looks terrible, your not going to tell them it looks bad, your going to lie and say, no it looks fine! We do this as humans because we don't want to hurt other peoples feelings. Now I know some people say never lie no matter what the situation is because it will just cause you to continue to lie and sooner or later you'll do it without even noticing. I don't necessarily agree with this because I feel that if you are a true good person than you know when its appropriate to tell a fib.

Now being loyal is a different concept. If you are truly loyal to someone than you will do anything for that person and you will always tell them what you are thinking and what the truth is-right? Well I know their have been times when I have been loyal to someone, maybe about a secret or something, and I spilled the beans. I just couldn't hold it in. It is interesting because deep down I knew consciously I did something wrong, but maybe I told someone else because I didn't want that person to get hurt. Is that right or wrong for me to have done?

I find these two topics very interesting because we as humans deal with these types of situations all of the time, daily, without even noticing. For some of us, lying is something we do all of the time because we know nothing better. I went to high school with a kid who lied all of the time. He would just make up the most far fetched stories that no one would ever believe. Everyone knew he constantly lied. He would lie about the smallest things that would just question me, why even bother lying about this when it doesn't mean anything? Was it because he had gotten so immune to it and couldn't stop from doing it? Was it truly his fault, or was he truly trying to hurt someones feelings when he lied-I mean if he couldn't control it, it's not his fault right? Then i figured out the biggest factor that caused him to lie. He tried fitting in with everyone and had to be popular. He wasn't trying to be mean to others purposely, he just wanted to be friends with everyone. So some day when you wake up keep track of all the times you make up the littlest fib-it will amaze you. Sometimes we do it because its the easiest way out of a situation or its a fast answer.

Reflection #2

I must say I really enjoyed our discussion in class on secret identities vs "real" identities. Personally, I feel like I have 5-6 different identities or personalities, depending on how you want to truly view them. I act like "me" when I am around my friends while I act in a different nature around my parents, girlfriend, as a student, when I am at work, and while I played sports in high school and college.

I know that I act differently in certain situations but in each of those situations I still feel comfortable with myself even if my personality changes. I feel like that is the most important thing. If you are able to still feel comfortable with yourself then in a way you do not have a "secret identity" but just multiple "real" identities. I feel like acting "fake" or different just to fit in isn't being yourself and will not help you in showing people who you truly are.

Around my friends I act like my normal self and I say whats on my mind. I use a "wider range of vocabulary" when I am with my friends and I never think anything of it. While when I am a student and when I aide in the schools I know where to draw the line and I am okay with that. When I am around my parents I don't act too much different but I am not the same like I am with my friends. I feel like I am more talkative around my friends than with my parents. When I am with my girlfriend I am myself but I also try to act more mature and "grown up," even though it can be challenging at times (haha). I work in the grain and agriculture business so when I deal with the public I act very friendly and helpful, although I see myself acting that way all the time. Lastly, when I played sports I had to carry myself as a respectful individual at all times because I was representing something other than myself. I was representing my school, team, and community.

It is interesting to reflect on the different ways I act because it is not something I normally think about. I feel that my "true" characteristics are with me at all times, but what changes is how much I show those characteristics and that is what personality comes out. Regardless of what situation I am in and what identity is showing up I am always comfortable, respectful, and proud of who I am.