Undergraduate / 'My avatar' - UCF Honors Admission Essay [4]

Prompt: You are constructing an avatar, a digital model that represents you in Virtual Reality. Who would your virtual self be, what abilities would it have, and what would it try to accomplish? Use the description of your virtual persona to share with us your dreams and hopes for the world, your fellow humans, or anything you feel very strongly about. After all, Oscar Wilde said, "Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth."

Please answer your chosen question succinctly, but with enough detail for us to get a good glimpse at the person behind the grades and test scores. You should be creative with your answer; you can tell us about your dreams, yourself, your family, your school, your pet, or anything else that you think will allow us to know you better.

As children, the world was our canvas. Painted with elaborate swirls, enthusiastic clumps of glitter, and the odd tuft of feathers, it was breathtaking. It didn't need to make sense or have a brilliant motif intricately intertwined with symbolism; it was whatever we needed it to be. The next day, it would be wiped clean, bracing itself for the turmoil about to be released onto its forgiving frame. Children dwell in the very depths of imagination, something that few adults can wholeheartedly claim.

My avatar, though plain of face and unremarkable in outward appearance, holds the key to the most valuable virtue available: the key to unlock imagination.

Conceptualize a world in which imagination ran asunder. It would have an atrocious allure, a beastly beauty, a cantankerous comeliness; and those are just the first three letters of the alphabet! A world where paradoxes, oxymorons, and absurd contradictions were not only welcomed, but celebrated. A society where acceptance and tolerance were mandatory, not optional. A civilization that refuses to accept anything less then extraordinary and sensational. What a world that would be.

Unleashed imagination would positively infect every aspect of the world's dilemmas. Political tensions, such as Palestinian's stateless-nation and Israel's border disputes could be solved by abstract brainstorming. The answer lies somewhere in the depths of the mind, waiting to be touched upon and brought to light. A creative resolution resulting in a compromise that would both please and satisfy parties equally is just sitting docilely, patiently awaiting it's time to shine. Sure, it sounds vague and perhaps even unpromising, but all other historical solutions must have yielded strange or idealistic until acted out. A leap of faith is needed to link two opposing forces together to stand united as a global front.

Un-tethered imagination would expand the breath of technology in miraculous exhibits; medical advancements, environmental concerns placated, and technological efficiency enhancing could all be aftershocks of this imagination revolution. We could think of new, untried treatments for cancer or pursue a maiden idea on reining in pollution and environmental degradation. We could nix the unfair, low-wage, laborious jobs in (according the Demographic Transition Model) Stage One and Two countries and pay them the money they rightfully earn while exposing themselves to the horrendous working environment they endure daily while simultaneously enjoying the efficiency we've grown accustomed too. As human geographer Carl Sauer said, "Science will always find a way." Anything is possible in this new realm of civilization as long as we continue to stimulate and prod the mind.

Besides the ability to improve global situations, this revolution would instill a feeling of great compassion and connection with the world's inhabitants, regardless of the distance between them. A Renaissance-like era would occur, leaving the world in a whirlwind of new music, paintings, and prose. This would undoubtedly unite our citizens and connect them in the most indestructible form possible: cerebrally. Conjointly, our now expanded mind would be able to further put ourselves in other's "shoes," creating a stronger sense of empathy. This would ensure that we never disregard our fellow men to suffer unnecessarily. If we could process the pain and distress that a population was being put through, we would never hesitate to help out fellow brethren.

As children, the world provided us with a blank canvas.
As adults, it's our job to make the world our canvas.

Note: Thanks to everyone for reading, commenting, and giving constructive criticism, I greatly appreciate it! (As the title states, haha.)