Leaves, trees, iron grate, its all the same …

Education for the Future | Personal Journal & Field Experience |Aug 28, 2008 | 1 hour field work

The 15 month old and I took a walk into Seattle's Ravenna Park today. We found ourselves walking over a bridge, looking down into the deep ravine of the park. I was mesmerized by the depth of the ravine and the view of the tops of the trees. It is not everyday that one gets to see the tops of trees. I was lost looking at the patterns of the leaves, listening to the faint sound of water streaming in the creek hundreds of feet below us. I was moved by the tremendous vastness of the scene in front of me. It made me wonder about the vastness that humans could be capable of.

When I awoke from my brief reverie, I turned to Vehd urging him to look down. He did but then promptly turned to look at the iron grate that lined the bridge. He spent the next several minutes looking at the trees, then at the grate. Then he turned around and paused to inspect the cover of the drain and was intrigued by the cigarette butts lying on the drain. Soon enough he was checking out the groove in the cement of the sidewalk. And, so he went on, inspecting and looking at everything around us. He wasn't sitting still mesmerized by the depth of the ravine like I was. For a moment this bothered me. I so wanted him to see the beauty of the ravine!

Then, I caught myself. To Vehd, the whole world, every little thing was as intriguing, as engaging as the ravine was to me. He was present to it all, not judging any of it, taking it all in. I was the one that was taking for granted some things and choosing to be mesmerized only by some things. I possessed a complex value system that did not riddle the free and inquisitive mind of the 15 month old. As I thought about all of this, it became clear to me that the mind of a 15 month old is truly vast, like the rest of nature. Our education and parenting closes out this vastness but my hope is that it remains within us and can come to occupy its rightful place even after we have grown.