The Blink of an Eye

They say that not all distractions are bad. They say that sometimes they get in the way, however, and should be eliminated. I beg to differ.

No, I am not saying that phones should never be turned off and tabloids should be read on a frequent basis. I'm saying quite the opposite, really. Shove your phone down disposal if you need to. Break your pencil in half if having it in your hand makes you feel guilty for not finishing your math homework. Shrug away responsibility for just a second.Turn off the Tv, take out all the light bulbs and light candles. And then, my friends, let yourself be distracted.

Let your thoughts take you into unknown worlds.

Because Picasso wasn't supposed to be a painter, but how could he sit and do arithmetic when his mind was with his art supplies?

Steve Jobs couldn't work part time when he was constantly distracted by the endless possibilities of technology. 

J.K. Rowling should have been trying to find any job she could get to scrape by, but a boy by the name of Harry Potter wouldn't let her sit there and be ordinary.

And when people told Walt Disney that "he lacked imagination and had no good ideas" he should have settled for a nine to five job, even if all day he was distracted by a little black mouse and his darling wife.

So to all those who tell us to focus on our studies and choose a stable career, we say to you that we will never cease to let our minds wander. Because wandering into the unknown is what created that iPhone in your hand and made the 9,237 Disney movies sitting on your shelf. Failure gave birth to Harry Potter and the Oprah Winfrey show. Distraction gave us art, and music, and the ability to express the deepest parts of ourselves for the whole world to see. So if you are willing to give up everything worth savoring, then by all means, tell me to rid myself of distractions. 

Curiosity may have killed the cat, but without it, the cat had nothing to live for anyway.