The child suffering in the middle

Basic image, with a new horizon. Please read on


A couple of years ago I was stumbling through the woods and caught up with a Grandmother and her Grand daughter. The young girl was about eight years old, unfortunately she was having a bit of a hissy fit and would not talk to her Grandmother, tears were in abundance on both sides. Grandmother and I started chatting and eventually the young lady wilted and was persuaded by my magnetic personality to stop being a wally and speak properly.

We wandered back towards the car park, I was quietly informed by Grandmother that the poor girl was in the middle, literally, of a very anguished divorce, her emotions were in turmoil. Torn between parents who were obviously at each others throats; she was seeing and hearing things that children should not be exposed to.

Diversion therapy time. As we walked along I asked the young lady, how she knew we lived on a planet. She replied that everybody knows that because they tell you at school. I replied that really we may be living on a big flat plate, unless we could prove to ourselves that we lived on a planet. This intelligent, attractive young girl was a bit stumped by that argument. Then I asked, "If I can prove to you that we live on a planet would that impress you?" "Of course!"

Two minutes later we were at the car park, we looked at the scene in the image above. I pointed and said, "There, we live on a planet." She was of course extremely dubious, as was Grandmother, until I made the simple statement, "If the horizon is flat we live on a flat earth, if it is curved we live on a planet."

She studied the curvature of the horizon with new eyes. There was an almighty shriek of discovery. "We live on a planet, Grandma we live on a planet." Happy excited child, tearful Grandma.

Some days I just love being able to communicate; in my humble opinion it's the single biggest failing of the human race, the inability of our tribal species to communicate across borders, races and divides.