Ramblings of a drunken monkey

Part 3: The innocence of youth

"The innocence of youth" is a phrase often used to diminish the value of a youthful opinion or idea. It may be filled with innocence, ignorance or even malice but that doesn't mean it isn't valid or true. We often say what we really mean when we are angry and then regret it later because it hurt someone, even though we know it to be true.

How often have toddlers, with no solid knowledge of the world outside come out with comments that we as adults have stopped to consider?

Then, and I say this with ponderous intent, do we as adults dismiss a comment from a teenager as hormonal ramblings rather than actually listen and consider the truth of it?

How much greater would the societies of the world be if even a fraction more people listened and considered the thoughts of everyone around them; be they young, old, 'mad', 'sane', of the same or opposing race or religion?

It's sad to say but in my opinion the greatest killer of inspiration is actually education itself. What we are taught by our peers and betters very often creates a ceiling above which nothing more is possible. You'd think that the studies of quantum mechanics and space would open our eyes but in every case in science, language and even religion we are shown what it 'known', worse when we are told to believe only that which can be 'proven'. So what happened to all the other ideas and possibilities we had before? I dislike things that are 'proven' to the exclusion of all else for this very reason. So how can teaching kids more mean they know less? Simple, because to a young child the world is a wonder, a mass of possibilities and unknown concepts. For anyone who has spoken with a free and confident three or four year old (as my youngest is now) you will know that they have infinite possibilities about what's going on around them. Ask them why there are toy cars stashed in the cupboards and they may either tell you that they don't know how they got there or maybe each cupboard needed a car parked in it to work properly, or the cars escaped and were playing hide and seek (that was from my lad). Ask an older child and you will likely just get that they put them there; whilst honest it's not as much fun is it?

There was an experiment done about the number of uses for a cup and it is so important for me to share with you that I would love to actually find it and tell you the proper details rather than a half spun tale of what I remember but I can't find it. Half spun it is then.

An experiment was run where a group of professors, professionals and well educated people were asked how many uses they could think of for a common plastic drinking cup. Now don't quote me on the numbers but let's say they came up with twenty. So the question was then posed to university students; the same question and yes the same cup, but they came out with forty possibilities. My guess is that an open minded student could think of some novel ways to use a cup but the outcome still shows a discrepancy, how can the same cup suddenly have twice as many uses? What is key to note is that the uses for the cup were never considered at any practical level, simply noted as an answer. So, the research group continued to visit groups of younger age and so younger education and experience and it's no surprise to you by now that with each group the number of uses for the cup grew. At the youngest level I bet you had oddities like 'a space rocket' or 'shoes for a dragon' or some such craziness. Stupid right? Daft impossible answers from children who didn't know better. Why? Why should they be 'crazy' and not 'imaginative'? Why should they be wrong just because no-one today could send a plastic cup into space or can find a dragon with cold feet? Why are these options impossible and not truths that we just haven't discovered yet?

I have ideas these days that would generally get me locked up (re-read chapter one if you're in any doubt over this) and I even give some kids moments of surprise with the things I say and believe. I like to think that I have no limits in my imagination and I take in fiction, sci-fi, fantasy books and consider 'maybe they are real'. I believe in gods, yes gods, all of them, Norse, Greek, Roman, Christian, Buddhist, Hebrew, Aztec, Native American and a few I'm sure I've missed. Why? Why not? I've been helped by gods, angels, spirit animals, dead musicians, comedians and relatives. I know this and I trust this, so who am I to reject groups that haven't helped me just because I haven't met them yet. True I still create physical limitations to my life, generally based on the potential likelihood for pain but my beliefs are pretty open. Saying that I once considered whether I could breathe underwater like a fish, just because I'd never tried it and although drowning is a fairly well known way of dying I thought I would check. So I ran a bath, put my head under the water and breathed in. Funnily enough the human body and brain are quite well adapted to preventing drowning but I tried, multiple times, just to see if I got past the 'impossible' reflex that I could reach 'possible'. I won't say I failed, I will say that at present I can't breathe under water but I still won't say it's impossible to do so. There are already known 'oxygen rich' liquids that can be breathed by organisms that habitually breathe air. Seeing as water is made of one third oxygen I don't see a reason why we couldn't do the same. I don't advocate this type of experimentation openly, at least not in the pages of this book, so please don't try this just because I did. There are lessons worth learning from others that just take a leap of faith, rather than trial and error.

When you consider the inverse correlation between possibilities and education it's easy to see how inspiration, lateral thinking and 'out-of-the-box' thinking are actually prized these days by employers. It seems ironic when an industry professional wants a new member of staff to have the best education possible and be innovative but then scorns the same member of staff for doing the unexpected, even if it's better. Worse, they then complain that their company doesn't grow and everyone is bored with their product.

So next time when your child, friend or colleague says something bizarre or random, rather than telling them they're wrong and that dragons don't exist, try playing along and go out in the garden with them to find the dragon. You never know, you might just find one (but you'd better be quiet, they're sneaky critters).