Imagined Things

In our human world, there are many imaginary things. A very common fallacy is to think that imaginary things are unimportant because they are not real. This line of thinking sounds logical, but it lacks both social intelligence and emotional intelligence. Humans are social animals. Whether something is important depends, not necessarily on its physical reality, but on its social significance and emotional meaning.

From 1996 to 2016, I have been listening to Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home Companion almost every weekend, almost religiously. I loved the show. There are many things to like about this radio show — a wide variety of music, poetry, celebrity artists, humor, the special sound effects and vivid storytelling. The section I love the most, however, is Garrison Keillor’s storytelling monologue, named “News from Lake Wobegon,” which always opened with the statement, “Well, it’s been a quiet week in Lake Wobegon, Minnesota, my hometown, out on the edge of the prairie.”

Lake Wobegon is Garrison Keillor’s invention. It is a mythical small town in the heart of America where people still live their lives according to old customs and traditional values. Perhaps it is true that it is always quiet in Lake Wobegon. But these “quiet weeks” are always packed with intriguing stories which tell much about human nature and certain truths about our society. Truths which may not be politically correct to tell. But cloaked in the form of fiction in a lighthearted radio show, they somehow become acceptable, even funny to listen to. For about two decades, I felt that I…