To learn the difference - And two
Then, as a man, I experienced another similar scene but of a much lesser intensity. I was a teacher for the first time in the village of Mariara, near Maracay. One day I tell a group of my students, teenage boys, to go on an excursion to Cata. I was surprised that none of them knew the sea.
I have fond memories of that trip. The vivid image of those boys, with their faces of surprise at the immensity of the sea, has stood the test of time.
The rules of thinking are maintained
These days I wanted to do a test, I told my eight-year-old granddaughter both stories. She looked at me with a perplexed, astonished face. Perhaps she even thought that her grandfather was playing a joke on her, that he was mocking her. In her innocence she told me: grandpa, stop making up things, how can anyone not know the sea?
I laughed at her answer, that child reminded me that I was answering the same thing in similar circumstances. How were my thoughts and my granddaughter's thoughts alike, I wondered. The answer was not difficult, neither of us could think the difference. Our mind retains rigid rules that are maintained over time.
The difficulty of the different.
For humans, thinking about difference is a great mental challenge. All our thinking moves more comfortably looking for similarities, so we build reality. From what is known.
Reflecting on these stories I learned that I should be more prudent with my ideas. Just as I believed that everyone knew the sea, so it is likely that someone else would suppose that I should know what he knows. It is very easy to place oneself in an erroneous thought that makes it difficult for us to communicate.
It is worth being attentive to everything that looks natural to us.
Thanks for your time.
