April 2023

April Thought of the Month

"You were born unique. Do not let the world make you conform to the limitations present in the prevailing winds of thought. Be the unique breeze with no limits or destination and keep on flowing!"

~ Avijeet Das

Remember that old Super Bowl commercial where everyone looked the same, moved the same, and the woman comes running down the aisle with a hammer?* That is a future where no one is allowed to think or act with free will. When we restrict the paths people can take in their quest for answers, we start down the path to that future. A society is crippled when we hobble our minds and dreams.

When I was in college, our calculus class got a take-home test with the answers in the back of the book. I worked on the problems, eventually got the answers right, and turned in my results. Even though all my answers were correct, I didn't use the right method (I sometimes wonder if I had discovered a new formula and missed out on a Prize in the Sciences!). I failed because the goal of the test wasn't to find the right solution but to show I learned the specific process.

But real life isn't like that. The ends or results are where we focus, not necessarily the means used to get there. The solutions we need aren't always "inside the box." The most successful people in history found innovative ways to solve problems even if it meant going against the way things had always been done until they came along. This country — every country — needs to teach its people to think in more than the accepted ways and give them the freedom and opportunity to explore and seek these new answers.

If the system doesn't give you that option, find your own way. Use the Internet, your public library, used bookstores, every source you can find, and expand your pool of knowledge. Our brains make connections in ways science still doesn't fully understand, and the more we give our brains to work with, the better our chances of making those necessary connections.

*Watch the Super Bowl commercial.

[Thought and image design by Elaine C. Oldham]