I strongly believe that a large amount of a person’s life is based on selective choices. The rest belongs to a significant paste that is evenly distributed between: their physical limitations, luck, and how far a person can take his/her imagination. The problem with this belief is that we are usually provided with two out of three (depending on society’s system.) Omitting either what we’ve come to know as good fortune/physical advantage, or restricting the imagination by having easy access to contemporary forms of creativity. Our popular western culture, for instance, has such convenient accessibility to create and dispose of materials, that in turn, it has dematerialized anything with true value. Tangible value seems to be the only concern of western society; forgetting to engage the imagination by sparking an interesting conversation, creating your own materials, or even enjoying a meditative moment to appreciate the process of creating from zero.

Over the past few years, I’ve been merely focusing on career-oriented aspects of life, and have completely ignored my sensible need for human exchange and interaction. The need to simply just enjoy a friend’s company over a glass of wine, or perhaps pack my bags and go off on a rural adventure with an equally interested counterpart. Well, I cannot begin to explain how my recent trip to Cuba bitch-slapped all of my senses. I was suddenly trapped in a world in which i actually had to engage with people in order to survive –this was not a new concept to me, but certainly a forgotten one. I found myself actually listening and participating in the inventive stories my uncle fabricated on his hunt for daily bread. I laughed a lot, and actually enjoyed sitting still with even just the mere presence of my cigar (a ritual I’ve incorporated within my Miami routine) I also explored and met some really amazing souls, kids mostly; who are imaginative beyond words, but struggle with the physical limitations imposed by the Castro regime. It’s really quite sad when we come to notice how incredibly lucky we are to have all possible means to create, but it is as equally depressing to find that we aren’t as nearly evolved in imaginative/interactive practices. This trip/story will certainly be one of many to come, besides visiting my family and friends back home, i found that it provided me with a simple happiness that reminded me of why I’m still here.