Wednesday, November 3, 2010

I adore my weekly dates with my youngest son, for we get into the most in depth conversations about the most interesting subjects. Today, for example, out conversation flowed easily from religion, to dinosaurs, to politics, to education, to aliens, to intelligent life forms in other universes, to dolphins, to world history, to small-mindedness, to terrorists, to why the terrorists took out the Twin Towers on 911, to fear, to control, to the freedom to maintain one’s individual beliefs, to stereotypes, and so on and so on.

When we converse, we don’t just tap on the surface of subjects. Oh, no! The two of us, both profound thinkers, like to roll up our sleeves and dissect each down to its very bones, and even then we don’t stop, wanting to get to the very root cause.

At first glance, many of the subjects we discussed today may not seem to be connected. But as my son and I are prone to do, we kept digging and digging until we found common denominators tying many to one another.

We discussed how fear is the base root of many wrongs committed by individuals and organized groups. That fear isn’t always born out of ignorance or naiveté. Often, it stems from the fear of having one’s beliefs challenged and then having them proven wrong, which if accepted, would create a huge fissure in one’s foundation of everything they have known to be true up until that point in time. This led my son and I down the path of discussing how many are resistant to change, not because they don’t want to grow, evolve and learn, but because they are either complacent or fearful of the unknown.

We spoke about how some in authoritative positions, teachers, religious leaders and parents amongst them, balk at those who would dare to question what they spout off as being the only right answer—the absolute way things are with no room for discussion. And when questioned, fear of being made to look the fool can lead them to lash out in a manipulative manner, by telling the individual who is questioning them that by doing so, they are not respecting them.

My son and I couldn’t disagree with this mentality more. In our household, my husband and I have always encouraged our children to ask questions and love it when they prove us wrong. Though we have demonstrated that the best way to do so is in a respectful manner that helps to build up the one they are questioning by educating them.

Over the course of our date, we talked about how any and all knowledge we have, which has been proven, is subject to interpretation. How? Well, things that are “proven” are only as good as the tools used to prove them. Over time, tools and technology available become more sophisticated, often disproving earlier “theories.” Dinosaurs and a lot of ancient historical facts have fallen subject to this.

I liked how my son, like me, expressed he believes that we are not the only intelligent life forms. That other universes may and probably do have ones as, if not more, intelligent than ourselves. We used dolphins as an example. Our thought being that if dolphins are here and almost as intelligent as we are, then isn’t it arrogant for us to believe that there are no others equal to them? Us? On this planet or in other universes?

All in all, the subjects my son and I discussed had one common thread interwoven more intricately than any other—open-mindedness. If we ever hope to become a collective better civilianization, then we have to display the willingness to want to change, learn, be proven wrong, and then learn new facts. And all this can only transpire if we are accepting of other’s beliefs and lifestyles, proven facts and things not yet revealed to us.