Sometimes I think we should just pick the family up and move her to another country. Far, far away. Somewhere where people are brushing shoulders, haggling, taking the subway, speaking another language. Then just live and breathe and make a life in that place for a while. Because I know it can change us for the better, even if that place never really feels like home.
Which, oddly enough, brings me to a question that popped into my head a few months ago: how does my 2 year old know every word?
I find it amazing that my 2 year old knows almost every common noun and verb in American English. He doesn’t think in abstractions yet, but he’ll get there, probably around 8 or 9 years old. But he knows almost every word because he’s heard it. Over and over again in the chatter of the household. For there are many of us, and always always there is talk. Even silent reading time isn’t always so silent. This drives the hidden introvert in me crazy.
So the two year old, who happens to also be our fifth two year old, knows nearly every word and knows them in context. He inflects each word just like we do, and it’s amazing to me how much he really does know just because he is immersed. There is no formal training. We’re not really a “start ’em early with a great preschool program” kind of family (being off the conveyor and all), so I figure he knows what he knows because he’s caught them in the context of everyday life.
It’s amazing what living and breathing among, and in, and through will do to shape a human. When I was 17, I moved from suburban Hawaii to rural-ish Indiana to go to engineering school. Total immersion. And I found that when I gave it all a fair shake, I appreciate wide open spaces, conservative politics, pitch black nights, politeness, grits, and white gravy (but not together). I still love the cosmopolitan bustle and inevitable mixing that happens in the city, but I’ve been immersed in the country and have grown to love it too.
Maybe you are spending most of your time in a vocation you feel to be “dead end.” Or maybe you are in a new season with a new organization, family, or church. If this is a part of your calling, immerse yourself! You might just find that you can grow to love it if you give yourself to it. And just think, if you’ve given it a good hard chance and still feel no spark of joy, well then you can always make a measured change and get immersed in another alternative. Either way, the experience will change you. And if you are aware of that, then you can determine how it changes you. Reading the magazines and the websites is more like dipping in a little toe, and probably isn’t going to provide enough information to make a fair assessment of much, really. We think we really know something if we’ve read all about it on the internet. Hah! If you have an inkling about something, maybe total immersion (even if for a limited period of time) is the way to get your thoughts and feelings about a Thing all sorted out.
Just think of what we would learn if we all walked a year in the life of a butcher, a school teacher, a prisoner, a child, a politician. I would think that we would all be a little more understanding and empathetic and a little less Waldorf and Statler!
Immersion – yes, much to be said about total immersion and I like to say that I think I do that, not so much in travelling to another country which really doesn’t immerse me, rather just give me a tickle. But projects? I dive into them with all I have and guess what? I don’t think I’ve ever been disappointed…at all…because I gave it my all…and this is how life is to be lived! Thanks for the great insight. I rarely “touch the surface” and that is why I feel joy for the most part. It’s also crucial to have friends you can immerse yourself in and the rewards are immeasurable.
Yes, I did think about things that were not appropriate for immersion . . . jumping from thing to thing can also be dangerous or detrimental. But on the whole I feel like main issue we have “on the conveyor” is skipping across the surface and never really diving deep to get immersed.