Toys (Jan. 14)

They say that the older you get the bigger and/or more expensive the toys get. So what exactly is the fascination humans have with toys? As a child they are a tool by which we help to encourage the imagination. But what is the point of toys as one gets older and inevitably settles into life? Once settled it no longer seems to be a matter of encouraging the imagination as much as it is a tool by which one can have an alternate out put for the imagination beyond whatever area of work one has settled into. In some cases I dare say it is the only output for imagination that some have. The bottom line is that toys are still toys and in some sense toys, whatever they might be allows one to hold on to some semblance of childlike excitement. This is not an issue as long as the adult has a maturity beyond that of a three year old who is for the first time fully aware of what birthdays and Christmas means for their toy collection.