Article 2

Silly things from a young mind

When I was small, I used to think the earth was round and where it curves is where it ends. And I’d think why do adults make a fuss about boarding an aeroplane to places like: America?, when I can just fly with a parachute or so to that end and find America on the other side of the curve. But then the curve that seems so near actually travels father than I could think.

Then I’d think of how rain falls from the sky. I then said in my mind that God gives the command, and then the angels take big drums like the black ones in front of our house and pour it over the planet. The amount of water poured determines how long the rain lasts, and wherever the water seeps into is where rain falls. But is that how it works? most definitely not.

Another instance was when my mother sent me to go tell a woman something regarding the party they were planning to go together. Then the woman told me to tell my mother ‘owo po lowo mi’ (there’s a lot of money in my hand/with me), so she couldn’t attend. But it didn’t make sense to me, I wondered, can’t she just put that money in the bank? Or if it’s too much, she can just lock her door well or tell her son to look after it for her so thieves don’t steal it. I later on learnt that what it meant was that she didn’t have enough money on her: But one isn’t supposed to say that directly in our culture.

And the stupidest thing I ever thought was. Since people are poor because they don’t have enough money on them, why doesn’t the central bank just print more notes and distribute it to its people so everyone becomes rich???

When we are young, we try to make physics into mathematics. We think things work as simple as they seem, but that’s not always the case. But even then, our young minds sometimes produce some of the biggest innovative ideas.