A child who reads will be an adult who thinks
The COVID-19 lockdown has taught me to reconnect with family and friends.
‘Not having time’ was an excuse for many things but COVID-19 heard millions of people's requests and gave us time. What we do during this time is our choice.
When I recollect the discussion of many of my calls with friend’s family members and colleagues, the majority of them are concerned with their children's education and how to spend this time. When I asked one of my friends today morning about his son in the 8th grade in a slight tone of worry he replied "he is sleeping, no school, no homework no play so no need to get up early in the morning. He sounded helpless about guiding the child.
I was shocked for a moment thinking- Is the COVID virus making us lazy?
We, humans, find several reasons to be indolent, and given a chance majority of us will make use of it to the utmost capacity. Laziness will never lead us to success. There are many incidents and stories in our past history of how laziness always leads to failure.
One such Tibetan tale is about a hundred people starting on a journey to reach their destination halfway down fifty people looking at the distance ahead dropped out another forty-nine stopped their journey for good only one continued with commitment and reached his destination.
The situation we are in right now won't ever occur again in this lifetime. It is an opportunity for us to make use of this situation in the best possible way. We need to reiterate this message to our kids and help them to optimize this situation by focussing on being more productive and creative.
Quoting Kahlil Gibran
There was once a poor farmer who lived in a village. While digging in his field, he found a beautiful silver statue. He thought to himself, “what can I do with this statue as it is of no use to me. There is a rich man in town, who is an ascetic as well”. The farmer decided to sell it to the ascetic. He walked into the rich man’s house. When the ascetic saw the statue, he was attracted to it and asked for the price. The farmer quoted a price and sold it to him. The rich man was very happy.
On his way back home, the farmer laughed to himself and said “this rich man is crazy to buy that statue. It was buried in mud what will he do with it? Good, I sold it I can use this money to buy many useful things.
The rich man on the other side was thinking about the farmer, “he is such a moron who does not know the value of the statue and its beauty. He sold it for such a petty price. I was able to buy this valuable and beautiful statue. The farmer is really a fool”.
The moral of the story is: how two people perceive the same opportunity differently. So, it is always our choice to use the situation to our advantage. Similarly, this COVID-19 is also an opportunity to be optimized. It is our responsibility to give meaning to it and use it diligently.
No school and no homework doesn’t mean learning should stop and the learner will do nothing. ‘Boredom makes one creative’. Philosophers for time immemorial have intuited this for centuries; Kierkegaard described boredom as a prequel to creation: "The gods were bored; therefore, they created human beings.”
The Psychoanalyst Martin Wangh described boredom as an “inhibition of fantasy”.A number of studies have indicated that those who are bored are more creative. author J.R.R. Tolkien created "The Hobbit" when he was a professor bored of grading papers.
Due to school, homework, assignment children kept aside their books which they had bought to read. But now it’s the right time to read those books. So this is the right time to fall into the habit of reading. “Children who read will be adults who thinks” There's no place in the world where we don't see an adult with an electronic device in their hand. And since the example is a very powerful tool, we are transmitting this habit to our children, unconsciously. Therefore, starting from our own home, we should aim to mitigate that effect as much as possible, while reinstating the habit of reading and involving our children. As Canadian communication thinker Marshall McLuhan in his book “Understanding media the extensions of Man” published in 1964 coined a phrase The Medium is the message If parents start reading with children the medium becomes the message. Children are not allowed to play with friends outdoors, shouldn't stop them from exercising inside the house. If children are screen dependent on TV and smartphones it will damage their imagination and creativity.
Therefore let us all work towards the Medium becoming the message!
Madhusoodana Sunnambala
