WISHING CREATIVITY BACK BY NICK SOPHOCLEOUS

My parents told me that as a kid, I would always ask stupid questions. Considering the negative connotation of “stupid”, I had always assumed that my frequent curiosity was a bad thing.

“What if the grass wasn’t green?”

“What if that stop sign was round?”

Sure. These questions seem dumb and pointless. But if you really think about it, these questions were a way for me to express my childhood creativity. While an adult would probably hear these questions and assume their insignificance, a child would likely become fascinated and wonder “what if?”. That fascination could spark the creation of even more creative and unique thoughts.

Compared to adults, children are much more capable of building off of creative ideas. Therefore, they can create unique ideas of their own with ease. While these ideas might not be useful or practical, they embody the sense of creativity that so many people have unlearned through years of public education.

Learning how to solve problems the same way as everybody else in the world makes it much more difficult to bring your personal ideas into problem solving. It also works against a child’s ability to think creatively.

Now, looking back on my childhood as a typical college kid, I desire to wish back the one thing that certainly made me stand out: my creativity.