So I'd just managed to log off of
E2 a few minutes ago, then managed to spill half of my second
martini on myself a few seconds after that, when the phone rang. It was my little sister, Molly. "Whatcha doin'?" she piped, characteristically upbeat.
"Throwing gin all over the kitchen and myself," I replied, characteristically self-deprecating. "What's up?"
"Oh, nothing. I was just calling to talk."
We chit-chatted for a while. Mostly about her asking people at school about The Princess Bride, and very few people knowing what she was talking about. Her and her older sister, Savannah, just saw it for the first time recently. As soon as I found out they'd been deprived of that experience, I bought it for them. What the hell is a childhood without The Princess Bride? Insanity.
She had been nervous about going back to school, seeing as how she was starting 7th grade. She haaaates school. I can relate. Her first day was the day before yesterday, so I asked if it had actually gone as bad as she had thought.
"Pretty much," she said, wryly. Little lady is gonna be a handful when she grows up, I tell ya. A handful? I perhaps understate. Maybe a dump truckful. Maybe an oil tankerful. She's a willful little thing, that's for sure.
I laughed. The conversation drifted towards school, and I told her if she paid attention in any one class, to do so in English, that the ability to communicate is honestly universally useful.
"You know what subject I hate the most?" she interjected.
"What?" I said, bracing for her to say math.
"Social studies." Well, that was my second choice.
"Why?" I queried.
OK, right about now is a good time to pay attention. This is one of those "Whoa, that shit's heavy!" type of wisdom-from-the-mouths-of-babes moments, so look sharp.
"Because, we spend years and years upon YEARS going over history and stuff that already happened, and not once, even once! have we sat down and learned about the future! Don't we need to know about that?"
I'll tell you, it's not often that I get taken aback by a thirteen year old long enough to say, "Holy shit, I never thought of that!"
Wisdom from the mouths of babes, indeed. I think, perhaps, we spend too much time trying to teach the youth of this world rather than taking the time to listen to what they have to teach us.
(PS: Martini #3 was pretty good too, and I didn't spill any on myself. W00t!)