I asked my 15 year old daughter today if I had ever taught her anything useful. She thought about it a bit, and said she couldn’t think of anything just off hand.
That’s hardly surprising, If you want compliments it’s probably not the best place to get them.
I think she was wrong though. I think I have taught her one really useful bit of information, which is that there is no such thing as a grown up. – or if there is I have never seen one.
I have two thoughts about this.
We probably all recognise quite clearly that we as individuals are not grown ups, and that we do not have all the answers, so it is very odd that we do still persist in expecting this of other individuals.
Lots of people still actively want and expect that someone else can sort out some of the tough problems that are really there. But if there are no grown ups then who is it going to be?
If we accept that there is no one to do this, that there is just us, we may discover in “playing” together that we could be on the way to finding some solutions.
I have only just started twittering. But I like it. The unexpected happens. A cat tweets me from Silicon valley to complain that I haven’t gone out and got the cat food I need. Someone else flags up childlike mind maps that explain something perfectly.
There are people doing things that matter, but there is a lightness to it.
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