Imaginary friends

"Imagination is more important than knowledge"--Einstein

Sometimes I think all of my friends are imaginary. (Just kidding!)

When I was a teenager I imagined someone who wasn't really a friend, but kept criticizing me.  Finally I imagined killing him and burying him under a lilac tree!

In more recent years, I've fantasized about having a blind girlfriend.  This means, my shrink suggested, that I see myself as ugly.  But I think it's more the idea of a girl who depends on me.

The TV show Barney the Dinosaur is sort of about an imaginary friend.  When kids get to eight or so and become too old for the show, they really hate it!  I've heard of kids reciting, "I hate you, you hate me, let's hang Barney from a tree!"

And there's also the comic strip Calvin & Hobbes, about a boy and his tiger.  It's a really funny work!  If Beau Geste's only redeeming virtue was courage, Calvin's only one is being imaginative.  In one episode he said, "I'm destined for greatness!  I just know it!" and Hobbes said, "Boy, will you have to pay up to keep me from talking about you!"