Knowledge Vs Imagination

Albert Einstein famously said, “Imagination is more important than knowledge.” He is also attributed with saying, “Knowledge will take you from A to B, Imagination will take you everywhere.” Einstein said a lot of things and much was misquoted.

Where are the dreamers? Better yet, who are the dreamers? Are you a dreamer? Dreamers have always gotten a bad rap. Such phrases to describe dreamers as, has her/his head in the clouds, lazy, always thinking of things that don’t exist and most likely never will exist, a misunderstood person, someone who marches to the beat of a different drummer. We have all known them, because they live among us.

In early school you are taught basic education, the knowledge that has been derived by others and hopefully will be useful to you. Later, you find your interests and study to be able to perform in the workplace. The skills you attain from school, your home, your social activities, sports, etc, can be translated into a career.

So, education and imagination should go hand in hand, because we stagnate if we only rely on education and repetition to grow. Speaking of growing, we have a perfect example of the two working together, the city of Atlanta, originally named Marthasville after the then governors’ daughter, located at the end of the Western and Atlantic railroad, so the name was changed to Atlanta, feminine of Atlantic.

Less than 3,000 people were left when Atlanta was in shambles after the Civil War. From her ashes, located in the middle of the South, with a river, a railroad and a lot of imagination came what we know now. Thomas Edison tried 1,000 times to get the right filament to invent the light bulb. Walt Disney, a dreamer, had a very hard childhood, so he built a place, “The Happiest Place on Earth,” Disneyland.

“If your heart is in your dream, no request is too extreme, when you wish upon a star, your dreams come true.”