nature's zodiac

In the midst of the ‘lost week’ after Christmas, we decided to take a foggy drive to the science museum. As Geo and I went magna-fishing for various yellow eels and red flounders, we couldn’t help but notice the lively commotion of collaborating kids at the end of the water table. They were actively placing plastic walls to dam incoming water flow. Eventually each dam would be overrun with water, and they constantly changed up the dynamics, which lead to a change of course for the various colored toy boats they set sail into these wild rapids. “Let’s take this wall out!” “Go! Let the red one go!” “We have overflow here!” “The yellow one is stuck!”. There were about six boys with ages raging from eight to four. I imagined what it would look like if they were adults trying to solve a problem this way, with tireless energy and spirited collaboration.

Minutes later Geo was involved with another ‘crisis’. The pretend ship that he was aboard with seven other kids was ‘sinking’. A six year old in a captain’s suit was imploring them to “evacuate!”. They all ran from the upper deck and crammed themselves into the lower cabin. The dialogue was constant and urgent! At the turn of a dime they would flock like birds to another location, perhaps the dinghy boat or the tree-house across the way. Adults had to part like the red sea for these wild survivalists. This scene continued for over an hour. I would see Geo down in the cabin pacing, his arms making large gestures as he explained what was wrong with the ship’s gears to a fellow shipmate. They were like sardines everywhere they went. They shared in following and leading, in listening and declaring. 

The wave of chaos that they created stabilized their creative team, as a multiverse if possibilities opened up before them.

At some point a woman on the loud speaker announced the museum would close in 5 minutes. The children all dispersed, likely to soon have dinner and get to bed a couple hours later. They had to get ready for tomorrow. As Eleanor Roosevelt said “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”