a fantastical and curious place

I once interviewed a student. I asked them, "What would you change about the world, were I to give you a magic wand?" They thought a moment, then said that they would make everyone stronger - and not physically stronger. That is, if awful, terrible things happen to you, and they're all you can see and you just focus on the negative, then that's a real tragedy. But if, when terrible things happen, you can think 'How can I learn and grow and become stronger from this,' if you can keep in mind that the world is a fantastical and curious place, then that can be a really good thing. So in that sense, they wanted to make everyone stronger.

I then asked the student what they would change about themselves, given a magic wand. They responded that they would make themselves less nervous. They then thought for a moment, and said, "Ok, my father killed himself when I was twelve [I later found out that they witnessed the event]. And that was really hard at the time. But I've grown and become stronger and I'm okay now. But I'm still a little too careful with other people's emotions - you know - sometimes it would be better, better for them, better for me, better for the world, if I would just tell them the truth about certain things. So in that sense I'd like to be less nervous."

This is one of the students that I have interviewed that I really admire, who really impresses me, who inspires me. The world is a fantastical and curious place, and everything - everything - that happens can be an occasion for joy, of a sort, or at least for learning and growth (I include the second part of the story to demonstrate that this student actually did know what hard times are, unlike many of the kids I interview). In this mood, one might be tempted to affirm a theodicy of sorts. I don't think, however, that this thought absolves us of action - or at least, properly understood it does not. That is, a different version of the above point is that the business of human life is action. The question always is, "Where do we go from here?" And that involves learning from the past, not dwelling on it.

But I almost prefer the version that says that the world is a fantastical, a curious, a beautiful (perhaps even a dangerous) place. It is a joy to be alive, every moment - if we can just see it.




*Some months later I told this story to another student (the first wish). They responded by saying that maybe this would make things worse - because bad people as well would be better able to deal with life's troubles, and would therefore be better equipped to do bad things. I think this student really missed the point.