I love that phrase, “It captured my imagination”. It makes me think of my imagination as a wild animal. I’m hunting it, stalking in the shadows, staying downwind. I am trying not to scare it away. My imagination is quick and nimble, like an antelope or an ibex. (Hudsucker Proxy!) I must be stealthy to capture it.

Capturing YOUR imagination is even harder. At least I know where my imagination lives. Your imagination might be anywhere. How am I going to capture it? I have to inspire you and create an image in your head.

Imaginations live in the world of images and emotion. Words can capture the mighty imagination if used well. Some examples:

“We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard…” – JFK

“Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves, that if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, This was their finest hour.” – Churchill

“We here highly resolve these dead shall not have died in vain; that the nation, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” – Lincoln

“We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Declaration of Independence

I find inspiration in these words. They capture my imagination.

We obviously can’t live our entire lives constantly capturing imaginations. We have to work too. However, everyone should have the opportunity, at least once in their life, to capture an imagination. Maybe it’s your child when you read them a story or tell them “You can be anything you want to be.”

Sometimes, you might even capture someone’s imagination without even meaning to. You might just say something innocuous like “You remind me a <insert famous person>.” People just want to be inspired. They WANT their imaginations captured. It’s not like we will run out of it.

Be kind. When someone captures your imagination…tell them.