prettyI had a thought this morning, trying to further explain the concept that is Scooter. Getting a lot closer with this one.
So, y'know constellations, right? Vela, Cancer, Ursa Minor/Major, etc. You know that we group stars by the pictures that they seem to make - the cosmic connect-the-dots, as it were. You know that we look up at those giant balls of burning gas and lend some organization, because that's what we do. You know that our perspective is limited - from down here on this little breathing rock, the blue-black velvet sky appears two-dimensional. We have no way of seeing a z-axis - we can imagine it out, because we know it's there, but we'll decide that two stars are right next to each other, because they're at 4, 9 and 5, 7 on the x and y, and we just can't see that on the z they're at 12 and 130.
So, imagine that you took that star that's out on 5, 7, 30, seized on it as a focal point, and swung your perspective out 90 degrees. This is the Trell system. Six planets, two of which are colonized, and a third used for agriculture (because the atmosphere is crap but the photosynthesizers absolutely thrive in it). And from their focal points, having two different worlds, the Trellans are very aware of the stars, and the way things travel through space (they don't have fast enough craft to get themselves to anything out of their system before their lifetimes evaporate, so they travel between the two worlds about as casually as you might go to Italy). They're a little more advanced than we are - maybe they're smarter, maybe they've been around longer so they've just trained their kids to this advanced thinking pattern. Don't know.
Kicker on the constellations. Trellans have 'em, they just have way different ones. Not just because of the culture and location, but because for them, our x and y are their z and x. So, the two stars we were looking at really aren't anywhere close to each other from their perspective.
So, picture that some of these Trellans ended up over here. And everyone thinks they're kind of dumb, because they don't get the locations, and they don't recognize any of the stars. Or they do, but it takes them awhile, because they have to think of the stars from the sky they've memorized, and imagine swinging their perspective, do all the math for it, and THEN see the connections. So people say they're slow, because this takes them awhile, not realizing that they're taking the time to do math that most of us couldn't put together.
That's Scooter. Kind of. Scooter's brilliant at taking in information, keeping it accessible, and offering it when it's needed later - as long as it's phrased as information, like a class lecture or a textbook. She flies through tests. She nails the right answers in class. She tutors people in classes that she isn't even taking. But she doesn't look at the world from the same perspective that most people do, and so the connections that they take for granted or casually string together, she has to pause and think about, and imagine swinging out 90 degrees from where she normally hangs out to see what it might look like from there. And because she's pretty (different kind of pretty, too - she has this gorgeous smile and amazing eyes, and her whole facial structure is so cute, but you usually overlook it because she dresses LOUD), and over-the-top cheerful, and this process of perspective-adjusting takes a second, people write her off as a ditz.
I've told Didi that if she ever has a major puzzle to solve, or she has to pick five friends to survive in the jungle with her, whatever, to make sure that Scooter's on her team. Because yes, she can be a klutz, and she's in-your-face about God, and she's kind of confused a lot of the time - but she sees things that nobody else on the team will get, because of her perspective.
Of course, then you'll have quite the job of making everybody listen to her. This happened with one of our imaginary survival adventures at Camp - you have to plot out a way to keep your team alive, and what items are most important to keep, when you're lost. Everybody on the team plots out what they would individually do/keep, and then they share what they've got with each other and settle on a plan. Scooter's team pretty much went down in flames upon the later evaluation - but Scooter's own information sheet had the best survival plan in the room. But, since she's always apologizing and bubbly, no one in her team wanted to listen to her.
That's another piece about Scooter. Because everyone tells her that she's not very smart, she believes it. Her bio dad didn't want her, and wanted her bio mom to get rid of her before she was born, and she still holds it in her head that she's not worth very much. It's not like she's any kind of special-needs. She's just really special, and can't see it because she's pinning so much on wanting to have a boyfriend. Scooter sparkles from the inside, just sparkles out her eyes, and her amazing smile. She's silly, and super-random, and sings and plays guitar, and...this is going to sound odd, but Scooter isn't afraid of anything except when she's scared. It's goofy to explain. She'll go out the door in the weirdest color combinations, take on high challenges on the ropes course, sing loud just because she feels like it, tell people what's awesome about them even though they weren't talking to her, listen and guess what's really hurting inside a little girl, and put her trust completely in God and know that he's going to work it out. But there are times when something gets her, and I haven't figured out what it is - I just pull her off to the side in a closet or something, and she snuffles and cries, and I wish so hard that I could cry on cue because then I'd cry with her and we'd be closer together and I might be able to help more.
I think she's afraid that no one will ever want her. It's deeper than the boyfriend thing. It's that for some reason, she's afraid that everyone's just humoring her, and no one really wants her around, wants her close, wants to take her with them on the next adventure. I used to feel that. It didn't match reality, but it matched my perceptions. I used to think that I was supposed to be in with the other special-ed kids and nobody had told me because they didn't know what to say - or they didn't care.
Okay, seriously, if you're a guy, and there's any chance WHATsoever that you're going to someday be a dad, you have to hear this. Okay? Dads are really important. Are you listening? This is important. I'm not sure what it is that boys need from their dad - probably lots of time outside climbing trees and nearly killing themselves in high adventure as they experience the natural world (don't ask me - I like outdoorsy guys). I do know what little girls need. And you're not going to accept it right away, because it sounds so superficial. Little girls need to know that you think they're pretty. And it's gotta be you who tells them. It's nice and fun to hear it from Mom, but there's a need to hear it from Dad. They need to know that you think they're special and pretty and worth cherishing. I don't know why - I don't know why Dads have that kind of strength, or what it is in us that needs it. I just know that it is. If you think she's pretty, tell her. If you don't, look at her closer - pretty goes a lot deeper than what she's wearing. She needs to know how much she means to you, and for some reason, saying she's pretty is a big part of it.
I'm twenty-two and I still need to hear it.
So, y'know constellations, right? Vela, Cancer, Ursa Minor/Major, etc. You know that we group stars by the pictures that they seem to make - the cosmic connect-the-dots, as it were. You know that we look up at those giant balls of burning gas and lend some organization, because that's what we do. You know that our perspective is limited - from down here on this little breathing rock, the blue-black velvet sky appears two-dimensional. We have no way of seeing a z-axis - we can imagine it out, because we know it's there, but we'll decide that two stars are right next to each other, because they're at 4, 9 and 5, 7 on the x and y, and we just can't see that on the z they're at 12 and 130.
So, imagine that you took that star that's out on 5, 7, 30, seized on it as a focal point, and swung your perspective out 90 degrees. This is the Trell system. Six planets, two of which are colonized, and a third used for agriculture (because the atmosphere is crap but the photosynthesizers absolutely thrive in it). And from their focal points, having two different worlds, the Trellans are very aware of the stars, and the way things travel through space (they don't have fast enough craft to get themselves to anything out of their system before their lifetimes evaporate, so they travel between the two worlds about as casually as you might go to Italy). They're a little more advanced than we are - maybe they're smarter, maybe they've been around longer so they've just trained their kids to this advanced thinking pattern. Don't know.
Kicker on the constellations. Trellans have 'em, they just have way different ones. Not just because of the culture and location, but because for them, our x and y are their z and x. So, the two stars we were looking at really aren't anywhere close to each other from their perspective.
So, picture that some of these Trellans ended up over here. And everyone thinks they're kind of dumb, because they don't get the locations, and they don't recognize any of the stars. Or they do, but it takes them awhile, because they have to think of the stars from the sky they've memorized, and imagine swinging their perspective, do all the math for it, and THEN see the connections. So people say they're slow, because this takes them awhile, not realizing that they're taking the time to do math that most of us couldn't put together.
That's Scooter. Kind of. Scooter's brilliant at taking in information, keeping it accessible, and offering it when it's needed later - as long as it's phrased as information, like a class lecture or a textbook. She flies through tests. She nails the right answers in class. She tutors people in classes that she isn't even taking. But she doesn't look at the world from the same perspective that most people do, and so the connections that they take for granted or casually string together, she has to pause and think about, and imagine swinging out 90 degrees from where she normally hangs out to see what it might look like from there. And because she's pretty (different kind of pretty, too - she has this gorgeous smile and amazing eyes, and her whole facial structure is so cute, but you usually overlook it because she dresses LOUD), and over-the-top cheerful, and this process of perspective-adjusting takes a second, people write her off as a ditz.
I've told Didi that if she ever has a major puzzle to solve, or she has to pick five friends to survive in the jungle with her, whatever, to make sure that Scooter's on her team. Because yes, she can be a klutz, and she's in-your-face about God, and she's kind of confused a lot of the time - but she sees things that nobody else on the team will get, because of her perspective.
Of course, then you'll have quite the job of making everybody listen to her. This happened with one of our imaginary survival adventures at Camp - you have to plot out a way to keep your team alive, and what items are most important to keep, when you're lost. Everybody on the team plots out what they would individually do/keep, and then they share what they've got with each other and settle on a plan. Scooter's team pretty much went down in flames upon the later evaluation - but Scooter's own information sheet had the best survival plan in the room. But, since she's always apologizing and bubbly, no one in her team wanted to listen to her.
That's another piece about Scooter. Because everyone tells her that she's not very smart, she believes it. Her bio dad didn't want her, and wanted her bio mom to get rid of her before she was born, and she still holds it in her head that she's not worth very much. It's not like she's any kind of special-needs. She's just really special, and can't see it because she's pinning so much on wanting to have a boyfriend. Scooter sparkles from the inside, just sparkles out her eyes, and her amazing smile. She's silly, and super-random, and sings and plays guitar, and...this is going to sound odd, but Scooter isn't afraid of anything except when she's scared. It's goofy to explain. She'll go out the door in the weirdest color combinations, take on high challenges on the ropes course, sing loud just because she feels like it, tell people what's awesome about them even though they weren't talking to her, listen and guess what's really hurting inside a little girl, and put her trust completely in God and know that he's going to work it out. But there are times when something gets her, and I haven't figured out what it is - I just pull her off to the side in a closet or something, and she snuffles and cries, and I wish so hard that I could cry on cue because then I'd cry with her and we'd be closer together and I might be able to help more.
I think she's afraid that no one will ever want her. It's deeper than the boyfriend thing. It's that for some reason, she's afraid that everyone's just humoring her, and no one really wants her around, wants her close, wants to take her with them on the next adventure. I used to feel that. It didn't match reality, but it matched my perceptions. I used to think that I was supposed to be in with the other special-ed kids and nobody had told me because they didn't know what to say - or they didn't care.
Okay, seriously, if you're a guy, and there's any chance WHATsoever that you're going to someday be a dad, you have to hear this. Okay? Dads are really important. Are you listening? This is important. I'm not sure what it is that boys need from their dad - probably lots of time outside climbing trees and nearly killing themselves in high adventure as they experience the natural world (don't ask me - I like outdoorsy guys). I do know what little girls need. And you're not going to accept it right away, because it sounds so superficial. Little girls need to know that you think they're pretty. And it's gotta be you who tells them. It's nice and fun to hear it from Mom, but there's a need to hear it from Dad. They need to know that you think they're special and pretty and worth cherishing. I don't know why - I don't know why Dads have that kind of strength, or what it is in us that needs it. I just know that it is. If you think she's pretty, tell her. If you don't, look at her closer - pretty goes a lot deeper than what she's wearing. She needs to know how much she means to you, and for some reason, saying she's pretty is a big part of it.
I'm twenty-two and I still need to hear it.
Quick Links
Latest Comment
Re: New hair - =) thanks!!!
| Terms of Service
| Privacy Policy
