By Hector Rodriguez
PROMPT—Ask Me.
Children are watching the news.
They see, feel and fear danger.
There are killings in neighborhoods.
There are shootings at schools
and houses of worship.
Wars continue around the world.
They ask themselves why the killings?
Have grown-ups gone crazy?
Have they forgotten how to love one another?
There is too much hate.
We are reminded by schools, houses of worship and parents to care for one another.
Life is sacred!
But is it?
In dreams, we create a fantasy world.
In this world, we feel safe and loved.
For some of us, the need to escape our reality is prolonged.
In our phantasy world, we are allowed to be children.
Grown-ups see the world differently than we do!
* Theories assert that their phantasy world results from childhood unhappiness, and such an imaginary world may be a defensive and compensatory act of self-care.
** Phantasy—the power or process of creating unrealistic or improbable mental images in response to a psychological need. Also, a mental image or a series of mental images such as a daydream.
Hector Rodriguez is a retired clinical social worker. He became interested in writing two years ago. During the pandemic, he began to dabble in poetry, which became a way to release stress and express his feelings. Being able to express his feelings in writing is comforting. He joined two zoom groups. In one of the groups, one of the participants told him about the Journal of Expressive Writing. Understanding the need everyone has to express themselves, he cherishes this opportunity to share his writing with the expressive writing community. Hector writes from Yonkers, New York.