My kids and I regularly discuss philosophy and metaphorically inspired concepts during carpool. I find it easier to infuse these small budding minds with a little culture and inspiration while they’re trapped by a seat belt in a spellbound trance imparted from the monotony of a car ride as I pilot them North on the 101 freeway. This hypno-inspiration treatment really works. Also, it distracts them from erupting into fist fights. And it allows me to “torture them to death” with wildly huge ideas that they rarely seem to think is relevant to their own lives. Yet, they put up with it since I promise them slurpees. When all else fails, and you want your kids to memorize poetry and important quotes said by famous people, bribe them with 7-11. Whoever decided to open up that chain clearly had kids and realized icees and Laffy-Taffies were necessary parenting tools never to be underestimated.
Recently I was quoting the great German Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche who said, “He who would learn to fly one day must first learn to stand and walk and run and climb and dance; one cannot fly into flying.”
All was quiet in the car as they absorbed this very deep and insightful wisdom. The car came to a complete stop as the traffic stalled past an accident on the other side of the center divider. Our heads turned to watch the crushed vehicle as we entered “sympathy traffic.” My 7 year old son piped up : “What if you jump off a cliff?
“Is jumping off a cliff a metaphor for taking a leap into life after learning to stand, walk, run and climb?” “No,” he says, “It’s just jumping off a cliff, kinda what I’d like to do right now. Are we there yet?”
