The Magic of a Brick Anonymous

The world would have us believe that there is nothing inherently significant about Legos. The simple fact that millions of people grew up with Legos as a part of their childhood does not devalue or minimize my own experience. Rather, I think my young mind’s approach to my arguably conventional hobby made for a richer, more unique experience. I like to say that Legos enlightened me. I began my adventure with a manual for a popular castle set. The first time I tried this common approach towards ‘creativity,’ my thoughts were confined and my expressionism was stymied. How was society to define the perimeters of my imagination?

In rebellion, I made minute alterations. As my modifications progressively increased in complexity, my tangential creations required other ‘outside-of-set’ pieces. My mind sharpened as I imagined solutions to foreseeable problems, dodging schematic flaws while engineering a perfect blend between design and function. I like to say that Legos enlightened me because they taught me problem solving that carried over into the classroom. If I could problem solve with my Legos, then why not here? The sciences and maths became my playground. I began with the ‘manual approach’ to new concepts, strict textbook work...