It’s Your Party
Back in the day, we thought it was funny to wind up our history teacher, Mrs Bladen, by humming while she was speaking at the front of the class. It’s was childish “group think” thing which made no sense at the time. Now I know it was an act of rebellion, safely carried out in solidarity with fellow students who shared an inability to resist the sense of mischief.
The Revolution Has Come and Gone
Mrs Bladen had tried with all the linguistic weapons at her disposal to quash our puerile protest. On several occasions, to our amusement, she called in “back-up” in the form of the Head of Year to observe and scrutinise the goings-on. But we knew while we maintained a straight face and a solid block of intent we had, at least, safety in numbers.
No One Can Learn for Us
One day, out of the blue, she blind-sided us. We were humming away when instead of reacting in her usual way, she gently sat at her desk, picked up a book and started to read; quietly and earnestly. Eventually, she looked up, turned a page and said, “Oh? Please! Keep humming. It’s your party. This happens to be one of my favourite books and it’s coming up in your exam in a few weeks.’
Our one-person audience had opted out of the game. The revolution had come and gone. We were rebels without a cause discovering there are a limited number of moments granted to us when can change the inherited trajectory of our lives. Limited that is, like the stars in the sky, not by our ability to observe them but by the manner in which we take cognisance.
Creativity Is an Animal With No Natural Predators
There are some things we have to master and keep doing for ourselves. Learning is one of them. In terms of wellbeing, it’s how we connect and share. Creativity is the apex of learning-related skills; not by accident, it is also the one we’re all born with. Later, with play and practice, come other variants such as comprehension, evaluation and recollection.
