Scenes from Amazing Stories' season 1 episode, "The Mission" (available on DVD at amazon.com)
I’ve always believed in the power of imagination and visualizing your dreams to reality. My dad was one of my first teachers of this universal law, influencing my sisters and I with books by Og Mandino and Norman Vincent Peale. But perhaps one of best representations of the power of drawing your reality to oneself was depicted in the 1985 Steven Spielberg-directed anthology, Amazing Stories. “The Mission” was about a group of young WWII soldiers going on their 24th tour of duty (helmed by the captain played by Kevin Costner). The group’s lucky charm is belly gunner Jonathan (played by Casey Siemaszko), a talented cartoonist who aspires to work for Walt Disney one day. When a German plane shoots at them, the planes landing gear is destroyed and Jonathan is trapped in the belly of the plane. With no choice but to land the plane without wheels, this lucky charm seems destined to die. But in the last few minutes before the fatal landing, Jonathan picks up pen and paper, and sketches a solution in the form of yellow landing wheels. He is intensely focused in his efforts, as he “visualizes” on paper and colors in the lines, believing in every stroke and swirl of his pencil, while praying. What happens next showed me at a young age that our imagination has the power to make miracles happen…and may even save the day.
If you haven’t seen the series, I highly recommend buying it on Amazon.com!
P.S. Drawing has been a ritual for me for many years now, which I’ve shared with friends. Here’s a longer piece I wrote on, called Draw your Dreams to Reality, in Suite 101.
