September 4, 2010

Disturb the Inertia




I have just spent the last two days at my 20 year high school class reunion. We were the first International Baccalaureate Program in Pensacola. We were a diverse group then and now.


Oh how my high school English teachers hated when an essay started with a dictionary definition. But this is a blog not an essay.

inertia
n. Physics . The tendency of a body to resist acceleration; the tendency of a body at rest to remain at rest or of a body in straight line.

"Disturb the Inertia", was one of the infamous sayings from the pep talks that Donna Dunson, our IB coordinator, would frequently give to our IB class. She spoke those words again at our 20 year class reunion. I really had not thought of the phrase in the last 20 years, but I have lived it over and over again, so it must have stuck somewhere in my subconscious.

Looking at the faces of classmates you have not seen in 20 years makes you look a little more at your own face. At a class reunion everyone tells "their history". How they are living.

For me I like to believe that I do thinking for a living, more why and less how. Using that thinking and the knowledge from years past and gone, continuing down that road less traveled and making a difference. For me, Why is greater than How.

Why is Greater Than How

The last night of the class reunion was family night and we all witnessed our children disturbing the inertia and much more.

My toddler's first question was "why". Any parent can tell you, the endless number of times the question "why" is posed during a day. Even among the youngest toddlers, who are barely putting together 4 and 5 word sentences, it is "why" . They are using the Why instead of the How. Toddlers want explanations of their world and want to become involved in it. They want to jump in and shake things up. They do not remain at rest for very long and are always moving. Toddlers are disturbing the inertia.

Creativity is about action and life is about movement, it is that disturbing the inertia thing. The creative spirit is about transforming nothing in to something and seeing how we can get ourselves in to commotion and refusing to remain at rest. So from my child I think I will find my lost creativity. And in the end my "Blog from the Edges" may keep me from being a body at rest, and become a body disturbing the inertia. Ultimately the creativity and security for which I search for in life will be my strength so I can hang on from the edges.

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