Man, my mind's always been hard at work. I’m a creator, and I’m not saying that just because it’s my title here at Odyssey. I create stories. I create people, monsters, relationships, wars, cities, cultures, worlds — they all live in my head. They clash and fight and change and morph and sometimes I document those ideas and they turn into the kind of stories I post here.

I remember the very first character I created. I was in the fifth grade, maybe sixth. I created a superhero because super powers are awesome. He could control ice, and he was aptly named Ice Man. He could turn entire lakes into ice, he could make it snow. I didn't do anything with Ice Man; that idea had been done a zillion times. But it was a start.

It didn’t take me long to realize how much I loved imagining. When things turned for the worst in middle school and I felt like I had no control over my life, I always had control over what I imagined. I was God, really. I was. I birthed entire universes and all the things that lived in them just from my head. That felt good. It feels good to be almighty.

It was escapism. Still is. In my pre-algebra workbook, I sketched alien symbols that my ancient race of extraterrestrials used because I was sick of practicing y=mx + b. At night, the worst part of the day, I imagined mystical forests with werewolves and dragons and the mighty hero—I’ve forgotten his name now but it was definitely plagiarized—and I’d get lost in that world until I fell asleep.

It helped me.

You know, imagination is undervalued in this day and age. I see emphasis on test scores, who has the new iPhone and grinding it out for a predetermined life. I see people taking what they’re given without questioning it. I see schools cutting art classes, music classes, and creative writing classes. There isn't the same celebration of imagination, creativity, and creation there once was, at least not where I live. And that bothers me. That really bothers me.

They’re right; as far as test scores go, the arts are useless. They are not as directly applicable to the real world as chemistry or calculus, and schools will not reap the rewards of high test scores that they get from such classes. From a financial standpoint, it makes sense that the arts are the first to go. What do they contribute? On the surface, they don’t contribute anything.

But the value of creation cannot be measured by a number. I’d say it’s beyond numbers; it’s invaluable. I gained knowledge in school, like evolution and AP style essays and trigonometry, but that pales in comparison to the lifelong lessons I learned through what I created in my electives. I was encouraged to create so I looked at the things around me and I wrote them down and learned about the world around me. I studied other peoples’ creations and I made my own; this is how I learned how people work. This is how I learned how I work. I taught myself to listen to my feelings, my thoughts, what I love and what I hate. And if you don’t know yourself, then what exactly can you accomplish in life?

Do yourself a favor. Never stop creating, and never, ever stop imagining.