Do you remember this simple thing about few and many?

My 4 year old and I were having an argument the other day. She wanted to carry lunchbox to school, like some of her other classmates. I had had this discussion with her class teacher a few months back, and the teacher wanted us not to send home food, since the school provides them food and they want to encourage the community eating thing.

So, I was trying to convince her back that why she shouldn’t carry home food to school. I asked her how many of your friends bring lunch boxes. “A few”. That was my olive branch! “See, most of your friends don’t bring it, so even you shouldn’t.”

What came next left me not only stumped but opened up my eyes for how we look at things in life now.

“Mom, only when I start taking lunch box, the few would become many.”

She has still not studied the concept of few and many in Maths but she could still picture it in her head. I haven’t taught her this. She hasn’t read or seen any documentaries or movies or books that could have taught her this. It came naturally to her. She sees that there is a minority group in her class, and she is excited to be in that minority group, so that they become a majority. Isn’t that wonderful?

Why do we stop thinking like that when we grow up? Why do most of us like following what most other people are doing? Why do we continue to follow the herd mentality, even after heard/read so much against it?

The need to do something, even if it doesn’t have so much popularity, is natural. It’s only our conditioning that makes us scared to move out of the larger set. And I don’t blame the parents who try & condition their children like that. Even I want my child to be safe and protected. But what bothers me is the smashing of the human in us by becoming too protective of our being.

Why can’t I think like my child when I see a motorist skidding on the road and a couple of bikers stopping to help, while the other in cars passes by?

Why can’t I think of making the minority the majority when everyone (except a few) suddenly starts to point questions and accusations to a person’s performance, which ultimately leads to his exit?

Why can’t this thought come in us when we see only one side of the story and pass our verdict without hearing the other side?

Only when I shift to the other side, will the other side become a majority is a powerful thing my girl reminded me of, after all these years of being an adult.

image source: dollyfreeenglish.com