Fairytales

Why do we love fairytales? Disney writers and chick-flick creators make a mint writing stories that suggest life comes fully equiped with romantic soundtracks, friendly animals, and someday, a prince or princess to sing alongside of us as we skip through an enchanted forest.
Has there ever been a day when bluebirds landed on shoulders and fawns approached maidens as they gazed to their mirror's perfect reflection?
I don't like to make assumptions. If your life's gone this way, I'd love to sit at your feet, serve you tea and scrumpets and learn your secret. But until I hear from you, I feel pretty safe making the assumption that it hasn't.
So, again, my question: Why do we love fairytales?
Though I realize fairytales are unrealistic and boarderline nonsensical, just the other day I went to Blockbuster and picked up "Just Like Heaven" for my sis-in-law and me, and "Beauty and the Beast" for my niece. I absolutely LOVE them! I know I'm not the only one, because I got the last video! Why do we entertain dreamy nonsense? Stupid!

Or, maybe not?

What if our love of fairytales sheds some light on human desire? What if our love for a good story about a hero coming to rescue his bride actually whispers to us of the kind of story we're made to be a part of? What if we love the thought of an enchanted forest because that's the kind of Kingdom we're meant to live in? Are fairytales our reminders of Home? Fingerprints of our Creator and His Heaven?
The story of Adam and Eve began with happy days. Adam and Eve were made in God's image; Adam walked with the Creator of the Universe and named the animals; Eve was gloriously beautiful and Adam fell head-over-heals in love with her. As I quickly ponder Eden, the possibility of shoulder-sitting bluebirds and friendly fawns becomes a little easier for me to imagine.
Our earliest ancestors took a bite of the apple pretty quick, so we don't get to read much of their, and our, original story.

Chubby Snow White
Originally uploaded by I_M_BonBon.

Fairytales may be remnants of those first days, still running through the human blood stream: echoes of Eden, built into our hearts to remind us of our deepest nature, even when the reality of life and who we are today kinda sucks.
I'll go ahead and believe that's it.
If it's not, I have no idea where fairytales came from and why we're still dreaming them up. We're at war, terrorism is a current world issue, a tsunami took the lives of tens of thousands last year and our nation's coast has just been washed away by a mad hurricane.
If fairytales are not reminders of a Greater Story that resides in all of us and is yet to be revealed, I wish they'd stop making them. They're ridiculous and deceptive. The world we live in today has made it perfectly clear that Jiminy Cricket was feedin' us a load of bologne when he suggested that we wish apon a star and our dreams would come true. Can you believe he said that?
We continue to dream. We have a stubborn, built-in hope. It hangs on past common sense, even when our hopes are disappointed and make us sick to our stomach. Thus, even when life is yuck and all hope seems to be lost, we continue to spend Friday nights engaged in beautiful fairytales. I think it's because we deeply know and desire to be part of a Greater Story.