When They Gonna Turn Into Something, Daddy?

Posted September 30th, 2005

Adam took his four year old son, Lane, to the movies. Lane, like boys of all ages, wants action. He isn’t interested in character introduction or plot development or foreshadowing of the conflict between protagonist and antagonist. Lane judges whether a movie is good or bad on how long it takes for the heroes to emerge in all their glory. This movie,“The Fantastic Four,” actually gets to the action fairly quickly, according to Adam

It wasn’t quick enough for Lane, however. After about five minutes, Lane exclaimed to Adam, “When are they gonna turn into something, Daddy?” That is a wonderful question about movies, and about life. When I am going to turn into something heroic, or at least purposeful?

I went to the movies Saturday and got there early. First I watched “The Twenty,” which is twenty minutes of advertisements disguised as supposed entertainment. Then there were several previews of coming attractions. I was wondering when all these preliminaries were going to turn into a feature. But I am conditioned to arrive early and wait through what the theater wants me to see and hear.

Lane, and other preschoolers, may be onto something important. While we are planning and waiting and procrastinating, we may be missing an opportunity to turn into something, perhaps even something better. I don’t know if we can be one of the Fantastic Four, or an Incredible, or your favorite superhero. We can be something better than we are, if we’ll use our imagination and innate creativity that adults tend to forget is present within us. We can act instead of watch. So let’s turn into something that makes a difference in this world.

This entry was posted on Friday, September 30th, 2005 at 9:57 am and is filed under Learning from Children.