Let’s write a description of the world we really want. Let’s be exuberant, and dare to create it. Picture it, and be as particular as you can. Gardens on every city roof? What is growing there—corn? flowers? trees? Enjoy every detail. It is possible if we imagine it. – from Isolation Journal #105
I imagine a world where no one is limited by lack of money, where travel is free and available (again) and where the more education one has, the more value they have.
So often when I have a big idea or a dream, I hear myself saying, “If only I could win the lottery.” What if, in my imagined world, I did win.
What would I do?
I would travel….
…to my backyard. I’d hire workmen to install the firepit finally and have the lawn reseeded and I’d visit the garden center and load up my car with so many new plants and it would be a quick trip because I never look at the price tag, wasting no time to find the cheaper plants. And I’d buy not just 2 but 4 or maybe 6 Adirondack chairs.
…to France because in my imagined world, European travel is allowed again. I would reconnect with my daughter in France and then move on to Venice. After months of having time to breathe and cleanse itself from all the toxins caused by tourist, I so would walk along the cleaner Grand Canal and enjoy this unique city once more.
…to the classroom, where in my imagined world, education replaces money as status and any uneducated words spoken aloud would be major embarrassments. Students would spend all their time researching their passions and listening and fact checking and one’s word would be expected to be true. Teachers would guide and would be the most valued in the community.
What’s your imagined world look like?
Writing Stories by Sally 
Great structure, that manages to capture all your disparate dreams. Travel at home, abroad, and in the world of ideas. It is good to imagine a better world.
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This IJ prompt stumped me, a failure of my imagination, but the last paragraph about what we value, made me nod in agreement. Now I would say, people would choose kindness, and I don’t mean that in any shallow way. I just read Jacqueline Woodson’s piece in the kids’ book We Rise, We Resist, We Raise Our Voices, a letter to her sons Toshi and Jackson Leroi, where she writes: “Each morning when you walk out our door,I want you to ask yourselves—What choice am I going to make today? I want that choice to be Kindness.” Doesn’t that sound like a world we want? Thanks for helping me “get” this prompt!
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Your imagined world has so much good in it. I also long for a world where there isn’t so much emphasis on acquisition, winning, and such. When we think how the work of teachers impacts a lifetime, you’d think there would be compensation reflecting that value. Is this prompt from Suleika Jaouad?
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Hi Marilyn. Thanks for the comment. Yes, it is this week’s Isolation Journal Prompt by Suleika Jaouad. I find myself better able to write using prompts now. I guess because it is harder to focus at times with all that is happening in the world. Let’s plan a virtual get together soon.
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