Castles in the Sky

This is a sign of things to come, as the development behind my house ceases to be a line drawn on a plan and begins to grow from the ground. I don't think that the end result will be too bad. I don't own the house, but even so I don't expect there to be too much of an effect on the value of it - we'll still get enough privacy, and plenty of light. But it always hurts to have something taken away - so it does feel as though we are being hard done by.

I wonder if you remember the lyrics of Ian Van Dahl's 2000 song of the same name as this blog entry? He asked:

"do ever question your life?
do you ever wonder why?
do you ever see in your dreams...
all the castle in the sky...

oh tell me why...
do we build castles in the sky..."

Castles ought to be strong and permanent, but only when connected to a strong foundation. I think Ian was asking the question of those who cared to listen - "What are your hopes pinned on?"

He sees that there are a lot of things in life that we invest a great deal of time and resources to achieve - but when we get there, we find that there is nothing of substance after all. And we feel hard done by as something that we never even had in the first place is taken away from us.

The song is a call for realism. Are we kidding ourselves that the things we are chasing will do for our happiness or well-being what we hope? Asking the question gives us chance to change course. And even if we decide to keep chasing after the same things regardless, then at least it won't feel so hard when they turn out to be just another castle in the sky.