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Nostalgia November 2015

Phase Three

Do We See the 'Magic' Around Us?

By Arnold Bornstein

For me, magic includes watching the sunset from a ship off Key West, Florida, in which the sun suddenly drops below the horizon in a few seconds, or watching our grandchildren's faces when I showed them magic tricks, or the love of your spouse and family and friends, or a spectacular artistic or athletic performance, or standing with your wife for 10 minutes in front of Monet's painting of water lilies.

Do you believe in magic? It may be determined by your definition of the word, and I don't mean as in science fiction and fantasy movies and books, or in a religious discussion of miracles. I mean as in everyday "magic" – ranging from a woman's handbag to a spectacular sunset.

Take my wife's handbag. I don't know how many other women have this problem, but at times, my wife can't locate an item that had been put in her bag – such as a receipt, credit card, keys or eyeglasses – and after another search, which sometimes involves removing all the items, the missing item suddenly reappears.

In other words, an object can be dropped into the bag, then cannot be located, but eventually will reappear. You've probably seen magicians on TV or in person do similar things although in those cases we call it sleight of hand and not real magic.

Please don't misunderstand, as the mystifying matter is far greater than my wife's handbag, for I have wallets, file cabinets, drawers, a night table, a desk, and a garage which apparently have even more unusual powers. On too many occasions, I have placed items and objects in these locations, only to have them disappear when I need them. Eventually, they reappear but once in a while I never see them again. Who knows?

My interest in magic – actually magic tricks – goes back to when I was about 10 years old. I lived in a place called Shamokin, a small, former coal-mining town of about 18,000 people in the anthracite coal region of eastern Pennsylvania; the mines have long-since been closed. On Saturday mornings during spring, summer and fall, the nearby farmers would bring their produce to Independence Street, the main street, and sell it off their trucks.

It was an easy walk into town on Saturdays and one of my favorite stops was at what today would be called a variety store. It was a small shop, but the owner also featured penny candy in large glass display cases. I also discovered a case where he had some magic tricks, and my first such purchase was a "magic coin box." I remember how the trick's deception fooled and perplexed the adults to whom I would show it.

For that 10-year-old boy, it has been countless days and countless miles and countless memories and events in the continuing journey from Independence Street in Shamokin to my adult community in New Jersey.

A while ago, it was memories from that boyhood that prompted me to select a magic tricks set when my daughter asked me what I would like as a gift for a special occasion that was coming up. I had long since forgotten about magic tricks, but it occurred to me that it would be fun doing them for our grandchildren. The set said you could "amaze and amuse your colleagues, friends and clients." The label also said you could "entertain at dinner parties, the pub or even in the boardroom."

The word "pub" was used because the man who manufactured the set had not only been a magician in England, but also had been an entrepreneur based in London. I studied the detailed instructions, and practiced rather diligently, and I recall that my debut with our grandchildren went pretty well. However, I was not sure when I would have been ready for a boardroom performance, or to whose boardroom I would be invited.

We are periodically reminded of the word "magic," be it by Disney's Magic Kingdom, Dorothy's magic slippers in "The Wizard of Oz," "This Magic Moment," "Puff, the Magic Dragon," and "The Magic Song," whose lyrics include the memorable "bibbidy-bobbidy-boo."

Perhaps, suffice it to say, as I did at the beginning, that "magic" can be determined by your definitions of the word.

For me, magic includes watching the sunset from a ship off Key West, Florida, in which the sun suddenly drops below the horizon in a few seconds, or watching our grandchildren's faces when I showed them magic tricks, or the love of your spouse and family and friends, or a spectacular artistic or athletic performance, or standing with your wife for 10 minutes in front of Monet's painting of water lilies at the Princeton University Art Museum. And just looking around at the trees, the sky, the ocean – that is the magic of nature.

Magic is with us even when we don't see it or don't realize it, and sometimes we have to find it. Perhaps we will eventually find and see the magic of peace on earth.

 

I can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

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