Creativity can be as surprising as it is exciting; The morning had been spent working hard in the hot July cornfield. Alfred and I walked down from the cornfield into the cool shade of large Oak trees. A small spring gurgled below a steep embankment. We filled our water jars and sat down with our lunch pails. As we ate, Alfred said, “This would be a good place to put a paddlewheel.” “What is a paddlewheel?” I asked. “I’ll show you after we eat,” he said.
Lunch downed, Alfred cut some Sweetgum branches. He chose a branch for an an axis, roughly ten inches long, about a half inch in diameter. He cut a slit through the center of the branch at the top and another slit through the side; both cuts about two-inches long. From the large, leftover branch, he shaved out two flat paddles. One paddle he slid into the branch through the top slit; the other he slid into the side slit, forming an X. From leftover twigs, Alfred cut two forked sticks.
Once completed, he placed the forked sticks in the soft wet earth, one on each side of the trickle from the spring. He lowered the apparatus to rest on the forked sticks and into the flowing spring; as the paddlewheel dipped into the water it spun to life, powered by the flowing water. “A miracle,” I thought!! and said, “That’s great! You are smart!” As we hurried back to our field work, the little paddlewheel gently spun unencumbered in the flowing rivulet.
A few years ago, I was in a toy store. In the section for beach toys, I saw a molded plastic toy that reminded me of Alfred’s paddlewheel. “How sad,” I thought. “Would the child that gets this toy even think to put it into a flowing stream for it to work like Alfred’s: Maybe. Even if he does, he would miss the fun, the excitement, and creativity like Alfred’s. Instant fun is, well, not that much fun.”
In today’s instant-everything culture, we miss much; creativity, conversation, relationship-building; the list is long. One blessing of the COVID-19 Pandemic could be that we were forced to think out of the box; creatively, if you will. Maybe some long-lost skills were resurrected, or new ones learned maybe by accident; even creating fun and new uses for stuff we already had on hand.
Recently I read about a person who was wheelchair bound, who found a new and valuable use for Legos; She fashioned a small, lightweight ramp for her wheelchair, using Legos, enabling her wheelchair to get inside a hair salon. As it turns out, that little step up at the door—a real barrier for wheelchairs—became a new, safe wheelchair entrance.
When I think of what Alfred did, it reminds me of the creation of the world, and our human responsibility for the world. Alfred did not destroy any of the Creation, but he did activate a multimedia experience of joy through it. Often, while in the wild, I see a little stream or spring; I think of that fun day, the cool shade of the old Oak tree, the little spring, the paddlewheel, and I smile to myself. A happy memory.
What a lovely story and memory. My brother and I carried our water jug to hoe cotton on the hot, dry West Texas plains. We would hoe a row, rest, drink, and repeat. I finally figured out that if you cut down more cotton than weeds, you wouldn’t have to hoe as often.
Thank you, Carla. Those of us who did that sort of thing, in hot, blazing, summer sun, know how to appreciate the little joyful things of life!