Where has the magic in life gone?

Is it only "somewhere in my memory" now?

As we near Christmas, the time of year which is supposed to be the most joyous, the most magical, one of the things on the minds of people is their seasonal movies. Now, I’m not about to start the whole “Die Hard is a Christmas movie” argument, but ever since I was a kid, Home Alone was a regular feature – and the heavenly score by John Williams including the subtitle reference (somewhere in my memory) going a long way in generating that magical feeling. As a child, lots of things were magical, sometimes by default and sometimes because they were genuinely magical, but as I’ve aged, the magic has all but disappeared from my life. However, I refuse to believe it’s simply because of age. Have I become too jaded to experience joy/magic?

“Magic, am I looking too hard or not hard enough? Am I looking in the wrong places? Is the fact that I’m looking for it part of the problem and I just need to let it arise when/if it does?”

This may seem a tad unusual, but the sound of the ice-cream truck or van, once a staple part of any community and bringer of happiness to all the good little boys and girls, now when I hear it all I’m filled with is sadness. I was going to write a separate article on this and title it “how something that brought so much joy is now a tragedy” and discuss why kids don’t play in the streets anymore and how the push for convenience and consumerism has robbed us of simple pleasures, amongst other things.

It's a strange thing to get upset over, the sound of the ice-cream truck, and not to labour the point, I genuinely do mean upset. I shed many a quiet tear over things that no one probably thinks nor cares about. I guess you could say the ice-cream truck is symbolic of greater social/cultural changes over time – and each generation has to go through things of a certain nature, I’m not claiming to be special or anything like that. I’m sure if I made a meme of an ice-cream truck with plenty of children around it, done in a 70 or 80’s neighbourhood/suburbia style and the tag line "we used to be a country, a proper country", it would speak to an emotion for many. Now, when I hear the jingle – which is rare – there is no rush of children nor fanfare like yesteryear. The calling card of days gone by is met with silence as it slowly trudges around the neighbourhood, wondering why it can’t see its kids like a father screwed over by his ex-wife and the family court system.

“The world’s still the same, there’s just less in it.” – Captain Jack Sparrow

I was watching a video the other day by a guy I’ve followed for a number of years, Einzelganger, on why nothing feels exciting anymore and he hit upon a few interesting points. The disappearance of mystique, as essentially, we know or have access to everything (information, pictures, videos etc), so nothing feels like an adventure or exploration. There’s this spiritual unemployment being created by technology robbing us of our spiritual labour, depth and fulfilment. Finally, we have a terror of the same befalling the world where places especially used to feel unique but we’re tending towards uniformity for many reasons, efficiency being one, and to feel less strange. As a whole, we’re rejecting the unfamiliar and searching for/clinging to the familiar.      

Another way I notice the magic disappearing is in the ugliness of the modern world or as I sometimes refer to it, the de-beautification of society across the board – architecture, cars, music, people etc. A video by a young man who calls himself “The Cultural Tutor” (real name Sheehan Quirke) talks about and illustrates how he feels there is the lack of charm and personality in the world around us. The way he does this though comes across grounded and not pompous at all, which to me helps aid his argument no end.

Children are great at eliciting magic because in essence they are magical. I’m yet to have children of my own and there is a possibility I may never get to have children. One of the joys of having children is the magic and joy they bring to your life. I can’t help but feel that my options are narrowing into two choices; find God or exit stage right. Do I have to believe in God for the magic to return? I don’t have the answer to that question.

Returning to the movies, and extending on the point that children are magical, just take a look at classic Disney animation, Peter Pan, Sword in the Stone, Pinocchio, The Lion King, Beauty and The Beast, for example. Even Disney themselves have lost it, they can’t do what they once did and are now nothing more than a streaming service rather than anything close to Walt Disney’s vision.

Photo by Karly Santiago on Unsplash.

I would like for the magic to return. I don’t wish to cave into nihilism and cynicism.

I withdraw away and nobody gives a shit – I thought somebody would have cared enough, but alas, they haven’t. If it wasn’t for my parents, I’d probably be dead. Although, if I truly thought life was meaningless and completely devoid of delight, I wouldn’t bother writing, trying to create, trying to make sense. However, life used to be full of wonder and enchantment…and yet I still believe and have hope that it can be again…and that it is not only somewhere in my memory.  

I genuinely wish you all a very Merry Christmas and happy New Year. I hope it is filled with all the love, joy and magic that is befitting for this celebration. My spirit will be re-animated and I’ll return in 2026.

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Photo by Laura Beth Snipes on Unsplash.