Why Not Save the World?
Dylan rarely does homework at home. He crams everything into completion at lunchtime. But he had a project to do for science, and asked me to buy him a foam ball before Friday. I bought him a lovely sea-green foam chunk, the size and shape of a softball, and he sat down to work on his project.
It was going to be a 3-D model of a cell.
He started with scissors, slicing a huge triangular quarter out of the ball. He sliced and sawed and swept up foam dust for 15 minutes. Since I don’t know the eight parts of a cell, or its functions, I don’t know whether or not he did it correctly – but it looks awesome. He used pipe cleaners and toothpicks and little pieces of orange paper and markers and foam. Then he typed up the eight cell functions, wrapped the typed page around an old plastic cup that perfectly fit the foam ball, and now he has a model of a cell.
Dylan may not be organized, or able to turn in homework on time every day, but wow that kid can create! He took a bunch of junk and, using nothing but his powers of design and imagination, made a cell.
The next day, he recreated “wet tramp” – the boys’ idea of a good time. Dylan has designed a way for two hoses to reach our backyard trampoline. He sets them up just so, and the kids jump with water pouring upon them from above, and squirting up from below. Rather than looking like a simple hose spray, he also sets the nozzles so that there are different pressures and delights depending on where and how one jumps on the trampoline.
Dylan has spent hours designing a dam for the creek across the street, to catch litter and then discard it properly. He’s built a giant swing out of nothing more than a rope, some sticks and a tree. He has a flair for designing, inventing and engineering something out of nothing. He takes junk and turns it into a game. He takes a game and turns it into a more challenging game. He’s not content to let something be the way it is. He wants everything to be better, stronger, faster than ever before.
Unfortunately, he’s limited to the junk he finds in the woods near our house, and in the garage. If he had unlimited resources, the kid could save the world. Best of all, he has the heart for it. He actually wants to save the world.
Who knows? Maybe he will.