'Imagination: Stronger than Knowledge'

 

 

“I believe that imagination is stronger than knowledge. That myth is more potent than history. That dreams are more powerful than facts. That hope always triumphs over experience. That laughter is the only cure for grief. And I believe that love is stronger than death.” – Robert Fulghum

 

Fulghum’s book All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten had just been published when I met him in 1986 when he came to speak at a college convocation I helped organize.  His book hadn’t yet made a splash on the national and international scene so many of the students in attendance had not heard of him.  Within minutes they were mesmerized by his talk, just as millions of book buyers would be by a book that spent two years on the New York Times bestseller list.

 

Born in Waco, TX on this date in 1937, Fulghum speaks and writes from his many life experiences which have included work as a ditch-digger, newspaper carrier, ranch hand, IBM salesman, singing cowboy …  and, of course, being a child.

 

Subtitled “Uncommon Thoughts on Common Things,” it became such a big hit because, like Fulghum himself, it shares wonderful everyday insights that each of us really ought to know but often just have forgotten.   Over the years, Fulghum – who now splits his time between Moab, UT and the Greek island of Crete – has written a dozen books, several plays and a nationally syndicated newspaper column.

 

 

Also a minister, he said he started writing to share many of the thoughts and ideas he utilized in his preaching.  “I think,” he said, “my writing is part of my ministry.”