A driver from a child care home picked up his appointed kindergartener from school one morning. As they stopped at a fast food drive-in to pick up hamburgers for the child care, little Sofia began to test the driver’s math skill. “How much is a hundred plus a hundred plus a million . . .” she asked. The driver used one hand to tally the hundreds; the other hand, the millions. Sofia was surprised that he had an answer. “How did you do that?” After learning the secret, she said, “This time don’t use your hands.”
“How much is a million plus a million . . .” she asked; it was another a long sum. This time, the driver admitted that he wasn’t sure but gave an estimate of what the total might be. When asked, “How did you do that,” he replied, “I used my head.” Little Sofia then said, “This time, don’t use your head.”
How dearly we in the Western countries need to remember to use our heads! That doesn’t mean we’re always sure of everything: We can make estimates. But from infancy, almost, we are bombarded with declarations that cannot be questioned, including high-definition television that is deaf, devoid of ears. When a preschooler turns to a parent, the response is often just a reflection, a culturally-correct answer. Why don’t we use our heads more often? Do we really have no time?
How can we question the universal extinctions of all dinosaurs and pterosaurs? No opposition allowed—that slammed the door, long ago, on common objective reasoning between opposing opinions. How dearly Westerners now need to just be aware that there is another possibility, an alternative to mindless assumptions, ideas that include lightning striking a mud puddle that creates future human civilizations!
I won’t mention the name of the cryptozoologist who criticized me a few years ago, for I’m examining a culturally-inherited fault in his own reasoning and I have no time now to praise, in worthy balance, his many contributions to cryptozoology. He appeared to question my ability to think clearly because I had done a mathematical simulation, years earlier, called “An Evolutionary Boundary.” He gave no indication that he had read anything that I had written on this subject, including my original report on my findings; he simply questioned my ability to reason well in cryptozoological matters because I had questioned standard models of evolutionary biology. But must everything be wrong that appears to contradict the most popular ideas of a particular culture? Must popular Western cultural assumptions about the origin of life be correct?
We must remember to think for ourselves and encourage others along the upward path. In most cases of human contention, neither side need be completely wrong or completely right, and when all aspects of an issue have been considered, without fear and without judgement of a participant, truth has room to break out into the open, blossoming into understanding. It’s not free; eternal vigilance is the price: Don’t forget to think.
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In this Long Beach daycare home, the principles of friendship and cooperation are encouraged. Children learn to see themselves as part of the total group, with individuality encouraged as well.
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