Nilipokuwa nikikua, sikuwahi kufikiria jinsi ilivyo muhimu kuwa mtu wa kufikiria. Ni taaluma ya utotoni, unaweza kusema. Inakuja kwa kawaida. Kisha tunafikia umri tunapowasilishwa na chaguzi nyingi za kuingiza viputo, kiolezo cha CV tunachohitaji kuunda, na Excel. Wakati huo, mafunzo yetu lazima yalingane na vigezo fulani: ndani ya kiputo hicho kidogo, ndani ya kikomo cha ukurasa mmoja, na ndani ya grafu ndogo ya dijiti. Kwa hiyo, nini kinatokea kwa mawazo yetu?
Inaonekana kufifia.
Kuwa Asia (kama nilivyo) haisaidii. Dhana ya kwamba unafaa zaidi kwa uhandisi au dawa ni kama mkia unaosumbua. Tunayo kinachojulikana kupenda nambari. Ikiwa wewe ni Mwaasia, lazima uwe mzuri katika hesabu - bila shaka.
Kweli, basi niligeuka kuwa mtu wa ajabu. Nilianzisha uhusiano wa maneno na picha badala yake. Nikiwa na umri wa miaka 12, ndoto yangu ilikuwa kuwa mtaalamu wa kuchezea droo, ambayo inaweza kugeuka kuwa kazi ya msanii wa katuni, ikiwa ingeenda vizuri. Na wazazi wangu waliniingiza katika ndoto hiyo. Tofauti na wengine, ambao huenda walifikiri kwamba huo ulikuwa ujinga, walinifanya nichore vitabu. Mama yangu aliponiona nimekaa bila kufanya kitu, au nikilala kati ya rundo la vitabu vya shule, alipendekeza, "Kwa nini usichore kidogo?" Zaidi ya miaka kumi baadaye, kidogo imebadilika. Bado anacheka kwa michoro yangu, ananiambia kuchora mara nyingi zaidi, na amehifadhi daftari hilo.
Labda, ningeendelea na njia hiyo. Wiki iliyopita, rafiki alinitumia barua pepe yenye orodha ya kazi, yenye jina la Doodler. Ujinga, nilifikiri. Lakini basi nilimwona mwajiri - Google. Sio ya kuchekesha tena lakini kwa kweli uwezekano. Na kwa hakika, Google inakodisha doodler kwa picha ambazo mara nyingi huonekana kwenye ukurasa wao wa nyumbani ili kusherehekea likizo na matukio muhimu.
Kadiri nilivyokua, kadiri orodha ya vitabu inavyozidi kuwa ndefu, migawo ilizidi kuwa ngumu, na kazi zilichukua muda wowote wa ziada kama mwanafunzi chuoni, uwezo huo wa kukaa tu na kumimina mawazo yako kwenye turubai tupu ulianza kutoweka. Badala yake, upande huo wa ubunifu ulilazimika kujipanga upya.
Mwalimu wangu wa historia wa shule ya upili aliwahi kuniambia kuwa historia si ratiba; ni hadithi. Alitupilia mbali mstari wa historia. Alifanya kile kilicho kavu na cha kale, cha kupendeza, cha kuvutia, na wakati mwingine, hata chenye ucheshi. Hayo yalikuwa mawazo yake kazini. Na ilinisaidia kukuza upendo kwa sayansi ya kijamii. Mawazo yetu yanaweza kuambukiza kabisa, nilijifunza.
Lakini je, upendo huu kwa mtu wa kufikiria unaweza kupata mahali katika ulimwengu wa kweli? Hakika.
Vijana zaidi na zaidi leo wanataka kufanya kazi kwa ajili ya kuanza ambapo biashara hukutana na ubunifu, ambapo kile kinachoweza kuonekana kuwa haiwezekani leo ni ukweli kesho. Nani alijua kuwa unaweza kulipia kahawa yako ya Starbucks bila pesa taslimu au kadi ya mkopo? Unaweza. Changanua tu kadi yako ya Starbucks kutoka kwa simu yako mahiri. Nani alijua kuwa unaweza kupata pampu ya kukanyaga kwa chini ya $40 ambayo inaweza kusaidia wakulima kumwagilia katika ulimwengu unaoendelea? Angalia tu kazi ya mjasiriamali Paul Polak . Nani alijua kuwa tungezungumza kwa herufi 140 tu katika karne ya 21? Labda, watu kwenye Twitter walifanya.
Mawazo hayatengenezi hadithi za hadithi tu na vitabu vya watoto lakini maono mapya ya jinsi tunavyoendesha maisha yetu. Mawazo yanapinga hali ya kawaida, sukuma mipaka, na hutusaidia kuendelea.
Kwa bahati mbaya, mawazo hayo yanawekwa kando darasani, ambapo msisitizo umekuwa juu ya alama na majaribio kwa muda mrefu sana, katika maeneo ya kazi, ambapo umaarufu wa karatasi bora na mawasilisho ya Powerpoint imekuwa kazi ya kila siku.
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Tunahitaji kuhimiza ubunifu zaidi. Sahau CV kidogo. Kusahau obsession na alama. Ikiwa tutamhimiza mwanafunzi huyo mahiri wa hesabu kuwa mbunifu pia, anaweza kutumia algoriti hizo kuvumbua. Ikiwa tutamhimiza mwanafunzi wa biolojia kuwa mbunifu pia, anaweza kutuundia chanzo kipya endelevu cha mafuta. Iwapo tutamhimiza huyo mpenda uchumi awe mbunifu pia, anaweza kujenga mtindo mpya wa biashara unaowafaa watu. Zana zipo. Unahitaji tu kuwaelekeza tena kuelekea zisizotarajiwa. Hapo ndipo ubunifu - nyumbani, darasani, na mahali pa kazi-ni muhimu sana.
Ndiyo maana, wiki iliyopita nilijikuta, nikikaa na mama yangu usiku sana, nikisoma tena mashairi ya Shel Silverstein ya watoto. Inageuka, zinafaa kwa watu wazima, labda bora zaidi.
NDOTO ILIYOGANDISHWA
Nitachukua ndoto niliyoota jana usiku
Na kuiweka kwenye friji yangu,
Kwa hivyo siku moja ndefu na mbali
Wakati mimi ni mzee mzima,
Nitaitoa na kuiyeyusha,
Ndoto hii nzuri nimeifungia,
Na chemsha na uniketishe
Na kuzamisha vidole vyangu vya baridi ndani.
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love the article!! :)
Awesome article! thx! It helped me with my academic piece of writing.
thank you all for the kind words, really appreciate it.
let our imaginations be reawakened!
Thank you. Diane DiPrima wrote a poem called "Rant". In it she repeats, over and over, "The only war that matters is the war against the imagination. All other wars are subsumed in it." Imagination is our ability to empathize, to relate, to imagine our selves in someone else's shoes. It is essential for compassion. And it is under attack. Thank you for celebrating it. May we all do the same!
What a wonderful article. I read this in a room where my Disney stuffed animal, "Figment" rests on a shelf behind me and an empty coffee mug with little cermic feet sits by my side. You helped reinforce that it is absolutely ok for me -for everybody- to embrace both that adult side just as much as that fun, imaginative side. It doesn't have to be separate at all. Thanks for such a refreshing read.
Off I go to get out my box of Crayola crayons, paper, pens, and my imagination! Oh, thanks for the reminder that we're not too old to dream and imagine.
One of the saddest experiences I have had was presenting a holiday music program to a group of children at a disadvantaged local school. My whole program was based on .. dreams and imagination. Should be easy with a group of kids I thought. Wrong. The simple question, "Do you have a dream of something you would like to do?" met with blank stares. "Do you imagine what it might be like to fly?" Nothing. These kids had no idea. It seemed they had no dreams. That one hour program was the hardest I've ever got through. A whole classroom of children with no dreams! Kids who didn't even know how to imagine.
I was so depressed by this experience, that I went home and immediately began to write a song for the next school I would visit. It developed into a children's song which I taught to a group of children in a YWCA in-school mentoring program that I was involved with. We recorded it at a local high school, it was played on our community radio station and it featured as the backing for a promotional video which the mentoring program still uses. It was called "When I Dream (I can do anything)."
The words I used to introduce the kids to the idea of dreaming and imagination were these.
"Nothing has ever been created, no masterpiece painted, no song given voice, no discovery unveiled, without someone, somewhere, who had a dream."
[Hide Full Comment]Janne Henn
this write up made think about the creative childhood of mine which I have decided to dust it new
Oh yes....let's pretend1
Walt Disney taught me an elephant can fly, and a little wooden puppet can wish upon a star and become a human boy. Some time along the way, most of that good stuff was lost by the wayside. I want it back !