Prognostication and Total Recall
Nanna was in town for Isaac’s winter break (thanks Nanna!) and the last day she was here she and Isaac had plans to go out to Amherst to visit the dinosaur museum. Through a series of events, Isaac ended up convincing Nanna to take both he and Ethan. Then while there, Ethan got a bit bored with dinos and found a window that opened up on to a construction site. He sat there and watched for a good chunk of time (which is, of course, age dependent). None of this seems particularly odd, except for this point—the night before, during family hug Ethan told Bianca, Nanna, Isaac and I that he was going to a construction site the next day. We just assumed it was more wishful thinking than actual prediction. But through a series of improbable events, Ethan’s little prognostication came true.
Paired with this feat of prediction is Isaac’s feat of memory. As we were riding to karate this morning Isaac asked me if I had ever broken the law. I told him the truth: everyone has broken the law at some point. He seemed stunned, then I explained—everyone has sped, parked illegally or violated one of the billions of stupid laws out there like the one that requires not one but two functional lamps on a license plate or the law that bans items hanging from the rearview mirror. He then asked me what is the dumbest law. I told him that there are still laws on the books, all of which cannot be enforced, that ban black and white people from marrying each other. Then he asked me who made those laws and I again told him the truth—racist people, mostly racist men. Then he said “those people sound like a-holes.” After this came a close interrogation about where he heard that word. I was certain I said it, but then he told me he heard Bianca say “a-hole.” He had perfect recall and it was only because of that that I was able to remember the exact (and only) moment when Bianca slipped up with language.
Kids are amazing. Their ability to predict the future and recall the past shames us adults.
Paired with this feat of prediction is Isaac’s feat of memory. As we were riding to karate this morning Isaac asked me if I had ever broken the law. I told him the truth: everyone has broken the law at some point. He seemed stunned, then I explained—everyone has sped, parked illegally or violated one of the billions of stupid laws out there like the one that requires not one but two functional lamps on a license plate or the law that bans items hanging from the rearview mirror. He then asked me what is the dumbest law. I told him that there are still laws on the books, all of which cannot be enforced, that ban black and white people from marrying each other. Then he asked me who made those laws and I again told him the truth—racist people, mostly racist men. Then he said “those people sound like a-holes.” After this came a close interrogation about where he heard that word. I was certain I said it, but then he told me he heard Bianca say “a-hole.” He had perfect recall and it was only because of that that I was able to remember the exact (and only) moment when Bianca slipped up with language.
Kids are amazing. Their ability to predict the future and recall the past shames us adults.