Tuesday, May 30, 2017

Thinking is dangerous or I just have too much time on my hands. Read on.

Two young people, one female and the other male woke up one morning, on a school camp. They had been told about the day's activities, the night before, during the meeting that occurred each night before 'lights' out.' The day was going to have a task that involved building a shelter to keep them dry for their 'being left alone for the night,' activity. I am sure some of you have experienced similar activities, in your youth, maybe in the Scouts, of Guides, era of your lives.
Next morning the two found themselves, sitting on the beach, near the looking out at the tide as it encroached on the stony shorline. One of their friends arrived, with a tray with two mugs of coffee, delivering them, then leaving.
The girl took a mug without a handle and the boy, the mug with a handle. There was no reason for their choices, as they hardly noticed the differences. The girl quickly placed hers beside her to allow the cup to cool a little before the tea. The boy started drinking. Neither talked. They were friends and appeared to be quite comfortable with the silence that accompanied their time by the beach. They had, however, briefly mentioned the plans for the day.
From time to time, the girl picked up her mug, only to place it back beside her, as the cup was still a little on the hot side.Meanwhile, the boy had almost finished his mug, before the girl finally took more than a quick sip.
He finished and stood up, saying, 'Well, I guess I know what I need to do. I saw some dry branches back on the track and I better get them before the others do, because we are not allowed to cut down any tree branches that are still growing.'
He moved off, leaving his friend to continue her vigil by the beach. Her thoughts turned back to her task for the day. She had already dismissed the branches, her friend had mentioned, thinking that they had probably already been snapped up by one of their classmates, who had risen earlier in the morning.
She put her cup aside as she had finally finished her drink. A thought had been growing, coming to fruition as she had sat quietly by her friend and now she seized upon it and looked towards the incoming tide. They had been sitting well above the high tide mark and the weather was good, and she remembered the weather forecast for the next twenty-four hours---settled and calm weather.
Why build using branches and why not use the sand itself? she thought. 
Later that night as the sun went down, the teachers checked on the classmates. Some had built shelters using branches, others, driftwood and a few, other flotsam from the beach. Given the nearby shipping lanes, there was a large variety of the later---of dubious origins. The teachers were pleasantly surprised by the 'dwelling' the girl had constructed. Indeed, they may well have missed it completely, as it was mostly below the level of the beach, with just a small part, showing, that using a few twigs, with a section of plastic---or was it an old car door, such was its level of 'decay?'
The next evening, back at the main camp, the two friends discussed how they had arrived at their two very different styles of construction. They asked three very different questions:
Did they think differently because they approached the task from a gender difference?
Did one of them have a more 'engineering/technical strength' to their makeup?
Did the fact that one of the mugs had no handle, thereby causing the girl to take longer to sit and think, make the difference?
There we have the point of my blog. I have time to come up with such HUGE questions and the 'nonchalance,' to put them to paper---or keyboard! It's over to you to put your spin on the 'other' stuff.



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