The Results of Imagination Never Come on Their Own

 While driving one day, I heard a story on the radio about a man who created an imaginary railway company—and even published a book about it. It made me think about the fine line between imagination and reality, and about how easily we mistake dreams for something more.

 

While driving my car, I heard on the radio about a man who had created a fictional railway company and turned it into a book.
He said something along the lines of, “Men tend to have this kind of realistic imagination.”

At first, I thought it was a ridiculous story.
But then I realized—if the idea became a published book and reached many readers, perhaps it had already become a kind of reality.

It may be misleading to say that imagination belongs to men, but I, too, once had mine.
When I was in junior high and high school, I imagined a school in my head: Kiso-Fukushima Junior and Senior High School, located in the mountains of Nagano Prefecture.
At first, it was an elite school aiming to send students to the University of Tokyo.
Over time, it expanded with new branches, developed a strong athletic program, and became a well-balanced school in both academics and sports.

The imagination kept growing.
It eventually had its own university, produced Nobel laureates, and even founded a Major League Baseball team in Las Vegas made up of its graduates.

But at some point, I grew tired of it all.
The notes and organizational charts I had drawn disappeared, and so did the dream.
There was a time when expanding such fantasies before bed helped me fall asleep, but even that habit has faded away.

Now, I am just an ordinary pathologist, not even a teacher.
My balance between mind and body is mediocre, and I no longer exercise.

Only a handful of people can turn imagination into reality.
Success in the real world never arrives in a single leap; it is built through countless small efforts.

The results of imagination never come on their own.
Still, we keep dreaming, hoping to make those dreams come true someday.
Perhaps it is in that very process that we find the meaning of living.