Today marks the return of Lucas. This is his fourth visit, third credited. Please enjoy.
Hi again, it’s Lucas. I’m just sitting here in class,
considering a conclusion that I didn’t want to pass.
I was diddling some doodles, on my paper with my pen
when I had a little insight that was altogether zen.
The thought was kind of large, at least larger than me,
but it shined a bit of light on the way that things should be.
You may think it silly, but I have some concern
about the way we get our answers and the way that we all learn.
The way our teachers teach us, well it’s based on an old system.
Now that times are changing, I think we should be changing with them.
The methods they use now reward all those who memorize the most.
Learn by rote, take the test and then they’re fit to boast.
But facts and figures fall to fruitless when you’re looking at your feet,
and find that they’re now bopping to a wholly different beat.
It blew in like a cyclone, this redefining shift.
We didn’t catch it quickly. Now we’ve found ourselves adrift.
You see, a system built on answers simply can not grow.
We need creative queries to bring us brand new things to know.
With the Internet inside our palm, answers lose their worth.
The techniques we use to learn deserve to have a brand new birth.
Questions have more value because they teach us how to think;
our thoughts and are behavior share an undisputed link.
Should we absorb the moment of that first shot in a war
or could there be some bigger issues that we could explore?
If we believe that answers shouldn’t come first anymore,
then we’ll develop questions that have not been thought before.
Let’s ponder this example: let’s bow our heads and think.
Take your time, take a breath. Okay, now go ahead and blink.
Let’s flip back in time a while to when Human Beings were new.
Before we had societies, in the dawn of our debut.
We were not committing answers then, with just one thing to solve.
The question we were asking was, “now, how can we evolve?”
First we worked with fire. Then we worked the land.
We had so many questions, and so much to understand.
We created language, art, religion and set Governments in place,
as the entire population spread across our planet’s face.
Now we have computers and answers oozing cheap.
It’s time for the entire race to take another giant leap.
Let’s ask ourselves about our future and discover what is next.
If we start out asking simply, we can soon grow more complex.
The next time that your teacher asks the answer to a question,
raise your hand and say “Excuse me, but I’ve got a suggestion.”
Say, “Answers were for yesterday. I’m looking toward our fate;
a future filled with such potential, I can hardly wait.
Perhaps tomorrow we’ll have a world where there isn’t any war;
no disease, hungry people, or violence any more.
If we start knowing what to ask, our future has no ceiling.
I know that I am just a kid, but listen to my feeling.”
You can be just like my teacher when I told her the word.
She said, “Lucas Bright, that is the smartest thing I’ve ever heard!”
Sean Platt is a dad, ghostwriter, and occassional potty training expert.
