Round Pegs and Square Holes

We’ve all heard of square pegs being forced into round holes and immediately recognize that the parable speaks of doing something so difficult that it shouldn’t be attempted. With round pegs and square holes though, it’s easier to do and so we, as a society, are often guilty of shoving those impressionable round pegs into respectable square holes because we can instead of stopping to say, “Now, that’s just wrong.”

I’ve often wondered about paths not taken in my life and if my current condition may be the result of having  tried for so very long to press the round peg of my brain into the square hole of conformity. Not the conformity to a strict code of moral beliefs or conformity to being like the cool kids, but the type of conformity that strips away your dreams in deference to practicality. Perhaps my brain finally buckled under the pressure of trying to be someone I’m not.

Talk to really little kids and ask them what they want to be and if they haven’t already been pushed toward a square hole will think of things like birds or frogs, or maybe even airplanes. They don’t have any concept of can’t. But it doesn’t take long before that changes. Now it would be fine if it stopped with things that are physically impossible, but it doesn’t. Can’t is applied to any number of things that are possible, but are deemed impractical.

When I was younger I wanted to be an actor or a musician or a magician. Those are all things that are within the realm of possibility. I mean, there are people in every major city who make their living in those categories. They’re possible vocations but they really aren’t practical. “You can’t make a living as a musician” is something a lot of people just take for granted. I mean, just about everybody knows a musician or an actor who is always living from gig to gig and spends as much time at the pawn shop as they do the grocery store (usually because they have to go to the pawn shop before they can go to the grocery store). These are things you could do on the side, but not your primary vocation. It just isn’t practical.

I was an artist as a kid. In science class I didn’t pay attention to the lectures or films. Instead I played with the rats and snakes or drew cartoons. But I still aced the exams. Mr. Sanderson, one of my favorite teachers (I had him for biology, zoology, botany and who knows what else), stopped me in the hall one day and asked me why I never took my books home with me and I shrugged. He told me that I could probably have a full ride to college if I applied myself…… I loved the man and it meant a lot to me, but he was essentially saying that cartooning and playing with animals had no merit in and of themselves.

When I went to college I wanted to get a degree in commercial art and I took one art class my first semester. This may have been the final straw for me, but after one of the first sessions sketching the opposite side of the room, the art teacher came by and looked at my efforts. “You’d probably make a good draftsman”, she said with obvious disdain. Not that I had great potential as an artist, but that maybe I should go for something more practical…… I quit college and got a job. This wasn’t the only thing that led to leaving school but it was just one of several. Maybe I should’ve just stuck out my tongue and said, I’ll do the things that are meaningful to me whether you like them or not.

Today I ran across the TED* talks of Sir Ken Robinson. I like that. Not a stuffy, Sir Kenneth, but a more accessible, Sir Ken. He spoke at TED 2006 on the role education plays in squeezing creativity out of children and trying to prep them for practical vocations. Excellent talk from a man who is both witty and insightful.

After watching the first video I noted a link to a second TED video recorded last year, four years after the first one. Toward the beginning he wryly continues with, “…as I was saying…” I hope that my kids watch both of these and take them to heart. I probably started too late with them to try and encourage them to embrace what was inside of them waiting to flower. Hopefully all of the grandkids will be gently guided rather than crammed into conformity and be allowed to stretch in directions that may not be practical, but are truly in tune with who they are. They’re all so different. Why strive to mold them so they’re all the same.

Here’s Sir Ken’s second TED talk video:

I know that watching both videos will take a little bit of time, but they’re well worth it and they’re entertaining as well. If you don’t enjoy them I’ll double your money back……

*TED is an ever expanding platform for thought leaders from Technology, Education and Design to speak to important points within their area of expertise. I believe the ‘E’ has been expanded to include Entertainment (and the arts). The “talks” are videos of speakers at the various TED conferences.