b.read.crumbs : We Must Be The Magic We Wish To See in the World

There is magic in the world, but it’s hard to see. Hard to recognize. We forget to notice it. We brush it off as coincidence. Nevertheless, it persists.

Here’s the prompt I got for this month:

“You are invisible for one day. What do you spend your time doing?”

I take this prompt to mean that no one can see me, but everything else goes on as usual. Unlike LaForge and Rho when they’re out of phase, I can still pick up books and open doors. My voice, my footsteps, sneezes and coughs will be audible. This means that I could perform all sorts of acts that might be mistaken for supernatural activity. Let’s run with that.

Since only I am invisible, I’ll have to strip off all my clothing (note to self: only go invisible during the summer months), but I should be able to conceal small objects that fit inside my fist, so there begins the magic.

Things I might do to create magic in others’ lives:

1. Gently wave a scarf in the air, like those ribbon dancers, so that observers believe the scarf is dancing on its own.

2. Drop coins or other shiny objects in front of people who need to believe.

3. Throw pictures of toxic people on the floor, and hope observers understand it’s a warning.

4. Tickle babies to make them laugh.

5. Place a light touch on the shoulder of someone who is in mourning, to remind them that those we love never really leave us.

How To Be Invisible For Real

Some of you may remember a time before cyberspace gave us the illusion of invisibility. Back then, we chose our words carefully because we had no User IDs to hide us from society. We were known to our neighbors and were inextricably linked to our community. Those were the days when trolls lived under bridges and lurkers hung out on street corners or in dark alleys, when braggarts were despised and pitied, and when the sign of an intelligent person was the ability to think before speaking. [Note: speaking is what people did before tweeting.]

The online universe really does allow us to be invisible. Anonymous, if you prefer. Too many people use this to spread ugliness, but why not use that power to spread a little magic? A few suggestions (please add your own in the comments):

1. Buy an author a coffee. For those who aren’t sure, this means make a donation to help an author pay the bills. The amount doesn’t matter; it’s knowing that someone appreciates the work and cares enough to click on the button that matters.

2. Leave a rave review of debut novel (an honest review) but do it anonymously.

3. Buy a book. You don’t even need access to the interverse for this. A purchase at your local book store will be an invisible sale as far as the author is concerned.

ONE SMALL BUT MIGHTY THING

Small Deeds Done – a newsletter that reports on and suggests small things you can do to contribute to big changes

ONE INSPIRING THING

Love, Anonymously Ideas for using your invisibility well

NOW GO MAKE SOME EVERYDAY MAGIC.

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