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What makes a saying wise? Is the grass
really greener on the other side of the fence? Does practice really
make perfect? Why shouldn’t people judge a book by its cover?
All of these questions test the truth-value of various proverbs, mottos,
words of wisdom, maxims, or rules of life. But what really is the
truth behind these “sayings”?
These rules of life are mostly thought to be ancient
words. They are said to obtain the power to give society directions
when lost in life. The words can answer questions in times of uncertainty.
They can provide humans with a “safety net” in times of danger. But
what exactly makes these ancient “sayings” wise and true?
One motto that I have taken a liking to was discovered only last year. It was not generated years ago. It was not acquired from my grandparents or parents. Actually, the short phrase was originated from my own thoughts, beliefs, and experiences. It goes like this: “When life hands you a picture of a duck, go ahead and color it blue!” The words may not have any meaning quite yet; however, as my story unfolds, so will the imagination.
During my senior year in high school, I was
a novice teacher. As a novice teacher I was required to engage in
practice teaching for one period a day in order to obtain a grade.
I would go to an elementary school during my second period. For an
hour and a half, I was looked up to by thirty first-graders. I knew
that these children absorbed everything that escaped my lips and all of
my actions. My first semester, I had a class that was taught by Mrs.
Smith. I will never forget the incidents of that first day.
The children were all sitting quietly in their desks.
They were making sure not to make a sound as if one bit of noise would
result in unwanted punishment. They were all silently coloring pictures
of ducks. There was one child that I immediately noticed. She
stood out from the rest of the class. She was obviously a year or
two older than her pupils. She was sitting in her desk coloring her
picture, just as her classmates were doing. Mrs. Smith walked by
this little girl, Courtney, and began to laugh to herself. She then
proceeded to snap up Courtney’s paper and show the entire class.
She said forcefully, “Look class, Courtney has colored her duck blue.
Have any of you ever seen a blue duck? I have not! There is
no such thing as a blue duck.” She handed Courtney her picture back
and commanded, “Now color your duck right!”
The way I felt at that moment will never be forgotten.
Many thoughts raced and raged through my mind, and at the same time I felt
threatened to voice them. What is wrong with this world? What
harm will become of an elementary school student possessing a little imagination?
What if Alexander Graham Bell had never imagined the telephone? What
if the Wright brothers had never envisioned the airplane? What if
Henry Ford had never conceptualized the automobile? What if Thomas
Edison had never pondered the idea of capturing electricity? Where
would our world be today if it were not for the imagination? All
these questions, thoughts, and events were racing back and forth on the
highways of my brain. And then the words formed in my head.
“When life hands you a picture of a duck, go ahead and color it blue!”
So the question rises again. What makes a
saying wise? Words do not have to live on for ages to become
“words of wisdom”. There is no test that the phrase has to pass that
enables it to cross over into the “land of proverbs”. There is no
official stamp that needs to be placed above the words. The words
simply only have to mean something to an individual. If the words
tie into one’s life experiences and touches one’s heart, then that is enough
to make that phrase wise.
When approaching this English assignment, I
was instructed to search for a proverb, maxim, or ancient saying that I
could relate to. I searched and pondered. My mind was blank.
Then I began to think deeper about the situation. The words “old”
and “ancient” are what threw me off. I wondered why the words had
to be of old age to be a wise saying. Then a bolt of lightening struck
through my mind. I told myself, “When life hands you a picture of
a duck, go ahead and color it blue!” I came to the decision that
I could write about something other than the ordinary. And that is
exactly what I did.