Toe-to-Toe With a Whiz Kid
Zion, a handsome, lanky thirteen year old showed up at our duckweed open house a couple of weeks ago. His dad owns the farm where I grow my duckweed. Zion didn’t say much at the time, just listened hard as I gave him and his cousin a tour.
He came back a few days later with his dad and struck up a conversation that I will never forget. This is how it went down as we stood watching fresh duckweed water drain from the tailgate of the pickup:
Zion: (without preamble) Did you know that a Galileo probe actually landed on Jupiter a few years back but it was crushed by the intense gravity of the planet?
Me: (shifting rusty gears from duckweed to astronomy) Uh… no. can’t recall that. I did just read that the Voyager 1 probe has exited our solar system, a first in space exploration.
Zion: Did you know that if you put a drop of ink in a swirling vortex of water, it simulates a black hole because light cannot be reflected off the interior of the vortex?
Me: (gulping a bit) That is too cool! I know we are going to witness a past event where a black hole absorbed a gas cloud and it’ll be epic.
Zion: Did you know that sound waves go on forever in space? Martin Luther King’s live version of “I Have a Dream” is being broadcast right now into infinity.
Me: (jaw dropped) They don’t teach you all this in 7th grade surely???
Zion: I watch the Science Channel. Can you teach me how to grow duckweed?
Me: (now pretty much under his spell) I don’t know who is going to be teaching who here, but sure!
Zion helped me for the next two hours as we harvested a load of duckweed and processed it for the solar dryer. He was attentive, not afraid to get his hands dirty, and a hard worker. I made him an honorary member of the ILA and gave him a guest pass for our next ILA Round Table concall.
He is going to steal the show.
WONDERFUL! The 14-to boy from across the street was helping me dig holes for some young trees (well, actually he was digging and and I was pointing and measuring), and he was telling me all about cobwebs.
These great kids need to be encouraged.
Sue
LikeLike
🙂 It’s Zion, not me. Otherwise, I’d have all nine of mine out there helping eagerly.
LikeLike
Wow, what a wonderful exchange!
LikeLike
Beautiful!
Getting young people into this new sustainable view of our relationship with the rest of the PLiSS (Planetary Life Support System) is crucial.
Obviously you got the touch… 😉
—
e
LikeLike