--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: My son used to believe that he could look…" description: "\"“My son used to believe that he could look at a plane in flight and make it explode in midair by simply thinking it. He believed, at thirteen, that the..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/19d/don-delillo-294_belief_my-son-used-to-believe-that-he-could-loo_1158601.jpg" --- # My son used to believe that he could look at a plane in… ![“My son used to believe that he could look at a plane in flight and make it explode in midair by simply thinking it. He believed, at thirteen, that the border between himself and the world was thin and porous enough to allow him to affect the course of events. An aircraft in flight was a…” quote by Don Delillo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/19d/don-delillo-294_belief_my-son-used-to-believe-that-he-could-loo_1158601.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/19d/don-delillo-294_belief_my-son-used-to-believe-that-he-could-loo_1158601.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/19d/don-delillo-294_belief_my-son-used-to-believe-that-he-could-loo_1158601.jpg) > ““My son used to believe that he could look at a plane in flight and make it explode in midair by simply thinking it. He believed, at thirteen, that the border between himself and the world was thin and porous enough to allow him to affect the course of events. An aircraft in flight was a provocation too strong to ignore. He’d watch a plane gaining altitude after taking off from Sky Harbor and he’d sense an element of catastrophe tacit in the very fact of a flying object filled with people. He was sensitive to the most incidental stimulus and he thought he could feel the object itself yearning to burst. All he had to do was wish the fiery image into his mind and the plane would ignite and shatter. His sister used to tell him, Go ahead, blow it up, let me see you take that plane out of the sky with all two hundred people aboard, and it scared him to hear someone talk this way and it scared her too because she wasn’t completely convinced he could not do it. It’s the special skill of an adolescent to imagine the end of the world as an adjunct to his own discontent. But Jeff got older and lost interest and conviction. He lost the paradoxical gift for being separate and alone and yet intimately connected, mind-wired to distant things.”” [Don Delillo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/don-delillo/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. A teenager imagines he can cause catastrophic events by thought, reflecting youthful power fantasies and isolation. **In simple terms:** A teen thinks he can make a plane explode by wishing it. Key Takeaway Recognize the limits of imagination and seek grounded agency. Themes youth imagination power isolation psychology Mood anxious reflective Type narrative psychological When to use this quote - adolescent coping - creative writing - mental health discussions - risk perception Key Concepts fantasy control paradox connectedness Questions to Reflect On - How does imagination shape our sense of power? - When does fantasy become harmful? A Different Perspective The belief may ignore real-world consequences and safety concerns. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Belief](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/belief/) [Connection](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/connection/) [Destruction](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/destruction/) [End of the world](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/end-of-the-world/) [Faith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/faith/) [Paradox](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/paradox/) [Power](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/power/) [Psychology](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/psychology/) ## Related quotes > [“I look on, it manages to hit the Colonies plane and ignite one of its engines, sending it careening wildly to one side and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marie-lu/i-look-on-it-manages-to-hit-the-colonies-plane-and-ignite-one-of-its/) [Marie Lu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marie-lu/) > [“I might’ve been able to fool other people into thinking I believed, but the God I was raised with knew my every thought, so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aaron-hartzler/i-might-ve-been-able-to-fool-other-people-into-thinking-i-believed/) [Aaron Hartzler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aaron-hartzler/) > [Listen, we've drafted guys that wouldn't come in for workouts before. 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The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gabriel-tarde/is-it-necessary-to-recall-that-the-earth-is-not-infinite-and-that-our/) Gabriel Tarde ## More by Don Delillo > [“We all know how the thing we secretly fear is not a secret at all but the open and eternal thing that predicts its…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/don-delillo/we-all-know-how-the-thing-we-secretly-fear-is-not-a-secret-at-all-but/) [Don DeLillo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/don-delillo/) > [Everything is barely weeks. Everything is days. 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An aircraft in flight was a provocation too strong to ignore. He’d watch a plane gaining altitude after taking off from Sky Harbor and he’d sense an element of catastrophe tacit in the very fact of a flying object filled with people. He was sensitive to the most incidental stimulus and he thought he could feel the object itself yearning to burst. All he had to do was wish the fiery image into his mind and the plane would ignite and shatter. His sister used to tell him, Go ahead, blow it up, let me see you take that plane out of the sky with all two hundred people aboard, and it scared him to hear someone talk this way and it scared her too because she wasn’t completely convinced he could not do it. It’s the special skill of an adolescent to imagine the end of the world as an adjunct to his own discontent. But Jeff got older and lost interest and conviction. 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