I walk on the street.
Chatting with someone next to me. Somewhere during the conversation, I feel the urge to switch perspectives. I take three steps, and with each step, I ascend higher till I eventually ‘float’. The person with whom I was chatting looks up in disbelief and asks why I am up there. I shrug my shoulder and show how it’s done, this switching of perspectives.
‘It’s easy!’ I acclaim, only to find out that not everyone can do what I do.
Doraemon was my favorite cartoon from childhood. A robot cat from the future that time traveled through the table drawer. Doraemon has a magic pouch. From there the robot cat pulls out all kinds of gadgets from the future to ‘fix’ the problem at hand. The ‘Take-copter (タケコプター), or Bamboo-Copter (take is Japanese for bamboo) is my favorite.
This adoration translated into my recurring childhood dream, and later in my facilitation style too. The desire to switch perspectives and see things from another point of view. But also, the awkward ‘fitting in’ within a group. In a way, I am more like Doraemon, who is part of the group and is also a robot cat from the future, rather than Shizuka (female classmate and secret crush of the main character Nobita) from the block.
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