It is STILL, HIT the BAll, although now it might be Hit the *&^% Ball.

[Dien Rice]

Hi GJA,

That's a great story! WHY - when a 2 year old can do it - are some people "petrified" to simply "hit the ball"?

I think it may be partly due to our schooling system.

In school, everything is "right" or "wrong". If you give an answer, and it's "wrong" - you're told you're "wrong"... and you're "humiliated" in front of all your classmates.

Therefore - unless you know the answer is "right" - you learn to stop and do nothing rather than speak up and give a "wrong" answer. This lesson then translates to "inaction" unless you know what is the "right" thing to do...

Of course, in "real life" it's completely different. You're rewarded for "taking action" - not for "doing nothing"!

So, I think sometimes we have to "unlearn" a little of what we learned at school. We have to "learn" that often, there is no clear "right" way and "wrong" way to do things - there's just "action" and "inactivity". In "life" (unlike sometimes in school), you get rewarded for action, not inactivity!

Fascinating story, Gordon!

Now, I don't mean to put down schooling - after all, a lot of the stuff you learn in school is very useful (like the "3 R's" - reading, 'riting, and 'rithmatic!)

However, the "lesson" that you should "fear" getting the "wrong" answer is a bad one... Since it's often better to try - and learn that way - than to sit back and do nothing - and not learn at all...

(Oops! I almost slipped off my soapbox - you know, a box made out of soap is slippery! Better end there... )

- Dien