I remember when I first learned how to lock a gate.
Weird thing to remember specifically, I know, but it has stuck with me, nonetheless, and the story nicely illustrates the workings of a child's brain, so I'm going to immortalise it here.
I was with my dad, in the garden, where we had a side gate to the laneway. The gate was chain link, as was the fence. When it came time to lock up, I watched my dad pull a small padlock from his pocket, and I couldn't help but chuckle, despite my efforts to contain my amusement. There was no way that that small padlock was going to clamp around the pole of the gate and the pole of the fence. I knew this - it was obvious, but I didn't mention anything for fear of embarrasing my dad.
When my dad, without flinching, slid the bolt in place, and clamped the padlock in the small loop behind it, my eyes widened. Surely that wouldn't work? I moved closer and began wiggling the bolt. I also slid it back and forth, before proclaiming "It still moves. This wont do it."
"So try to open the gate." My dad suggested.
"Easy." I pulled at the bolt, twisted it, rattled it, but for all my strenuous effort, I just couldn't get the bolt back far enough for it to release from its snug little hole in the pole of the fence. He had done it. My dad was a genius. He had brought a lock which turned out to be too small, and then without a stumble, had adapted and overcome the situation and jammed the bolt in place. Wow.
I learned about improvisation that day, and that there was always a way to solve a problem, if only you were inventive enough. Puzzles and riddles were no longer an annoying thing that adults did, they were fun ways for me to test myself, and see if I could channel some of that brain power that I had witnessed in my dad, and that I hoped also existed within me.
It was at least a year later that I realised that I had been wrong all along. There was no large padlock that clamped through the link in the chains. Clipping a padlock behind a bolt was in fact how you locked a gate, and was not a clever workaround. Man, did I feel dumb. Though once again, I felt my brain having a good stretch at this second lightbulb moment, this time teaching me not to assume that my thoughts and assumptions were correct by default. I learned the importance of questioning things, and exposing myself to a variety of experiences, no matter how basic or uninteresting they may at first appear, for there is always something new to learn.
This is still something that I think of occasionally, close to thirty years later, as I continue to develop, learn and grow. We never stop making decisions, assumptions, errors and progress. There are little life lessons everywhere, even in bolts and fences.
- Aluca Sol 