Things that make sense

[gurdonark]

I love things that make sense. Let's take a slinky, for example. Use it as it is supposed to be used, and it slinks along nicely, a pleasant little spring with which to play. Stretch it too far, and it gets bent out of shape. Play with one that is bent out of shape, and it still is playable, but not as much fun. Play dough is much the same. Squeeze it through those plastic molds, and it comes out in nice star and triangle patterns. Roll it between your fingers, and you can make long sticks out of it. But mix the colors together, and it comes out all brown/gray,
or leave it out too long, and it turns hard and non-playable. There's a world of other rules that are easy to understand. Leave the bike in the rain, and it rusts a bit. Sharpen the pencil too much, and the lead point breaks easily, because it is too thin. Don't move the paper until the Elmer glue is dry. Don't drink the Elsie milk when it smells unsavory.

The problem comes, of course, when we move beyond these demonstrable kindergarten phenomena. Any problem which requires more than one simple rule to solve frequently goes unsolved. I think best in one sentence solutions. I spend my life trying to distill endless problems into one sentence solutions. When it works, I can write a concise answer indeed. When it does not work,
then the solution is difficult indeed. I understood my world a lot better when I was 6 than I do now, and I expect that I understand it now a lot better than I will at twice my age.

Comments

[auntiesiannan.livejournal.com]

Sometimes when the rules are "broken", it becomes a greater learning experience and exercise in creativity than if the "directions" were followed. A stretched slinky becomes a challenge. Muddied play-doh colors can be used to build dirt monsters and scary dead trees. Dried play-doh can be experimented with amounts of water. Rusted bikes can be painted a new color that didn't come from the Schwinn factory. Learn. Create. Try.

[gurdonark.livejournal.com]

That's a very useful comment. Thanks for sharing it.

[miscelenaclosed.livejournal.com]

I think best in one sentence solutions. I spend my life trying to distill endless problems into one sentence solutions. When it works, I can write a concise answer indeed. When it does not work, then the solution is difficult indeed.

Oh, thank you for this! Heehee... it's so good to know that I'm not the only one!

I loved geometry class: remember proofs?! You could get from A to B in logical steps and it was a wonderful puzzle to figure out HOW. Even if it was a 15 step process, it WAS a process. There was an answer; you just had to line up the rules correctly and apply them properly.

I think too often that I try to apply the same structure to my life: I want things to be logical and orderly: IF I do this and this and this... THEN this and this and this will result. Simple, right?

HA! Not nearly! It seems like at least once a day I find myself saying "It *really* shouldn't be this complicated..." ...and just when things start looking like they make sense, it's suddenly not just calculus, but quantum mechanics and all the standard Newtonian principles have to get thrown out the window... ;)

[gurdonark.livejournal.com]

I really related to your saying to yourself "it shouldn't have to be so complicated", because this is my constant refrain :)