A new condo development in my town has a local resident very concerned, and one concern is that it will block the view of the river.
After hearing about this I thought to myself, “If someone has lived in an area for decades where they have a beautiful view of the river, and then a new condo goes up that blocks their view of the river, is that fair?”
Part of me thought it would be a little disappointing, and so I empathized with this resident.
I decided to walk down to the location of the new condo to have a look for myself.
At the moment, they’ve just started breaking ground on the project, so when you go there, you just see a lot of dirt where the condo will be.
I took my camera and stood in front of the houses behind the Condo. I then videotaped from multiple angles around the lot.
It took about 0 seconds to discover that there is no view of the river from that location. The only thing that is visible is an office. Behind the office there is indeed a river, but it is not visible from behind where the condo will be.
It made me wonder why a grown adult would complain about a condo development blocking the view of the river when there is currently no view of the river.
It made me think of childhood imaginary friends.
Some children develop a friendship with an imaginary friend to help them to navigate their way through their childhood.
According to WebMD, Imaginary friends are popular with toddlers and 65% of children may have an imaginary friend between their toddler years and turning 7.
However, if you are over the age of 7, for example 55, having an imaginary friend may be highly frowned upon.
But by all appearances, what is less frowned upon is having an imaginary river.
After coming back from the Condo lot, I began thinking of some of the possible benefits of having an imaginary river.
To try to block a major construction project, based on the fact that the condo would block your view of the river, when you currently have no view of the river is concerning. For an individual to go that far, there must be some very real benefits to having an imaginary river.
These are some of the scenarios that I came up with for how a grownup could benefit from having an imaginary river.
Five benefits of having an imaginary river
- In the morning, sitting on your front porch, peacefully sipping coffee and looking out at the beautiful water in the river that is not there.
- Standing in front of your house and experiencing a sense of deep gratitude that you live in a house with such an amazing view of the river that is not there.
- Luring stressed out friends to come down for a visit with the promise of the beautiful view of the river that is not there.
- Watching fish jump out of the water and back into the water in the river that is not there.
- Before going to bed at night, peaking out one last time at the moonlight dancing against the water of the river that is not there.
After carefully considering these benefits, I can understand now why a grownup would want to have an imaginary river. Less stigma. It is an entry-level way to have an imaginary life over the age of 7.
The next time I walk by that construction site, instead of thinking to myself, “Somebody in one of these houses is very upset about losing their view of the river”, I will instead just walk extra fast, keep my head down and tell myself what I tell myself in situations like these. “I don’t have to understand everything that goes on in this world.”
