The origins of the idiom are traced back to before 1546, as it was published in John Heywood's collection of proverbs written in 1546: "When he should get aught, each finger is a thumb."
These days, if you watch children and adults using their iPhones you'll see their thumbs moving rapidly, while the rest of their fingers are idle supporting the device. Our thumbs can be amazingly dextrous.
What happens however, when the rest of the fingers providing functionality to the human hand are ignored? Will we suffer in intellect and character as a species if we fail to cultivate the full range of human grips?
Technology has put us at that point that it is altering the way we think. Each of the grips shown in the drawing are also ways of grasping. We grasp with the hands. We also grasp with the mind. If our fingers are over used in poking and dragging over the glass surfaces of our digital devices, to the neglect of the dexterity of our other fingers will we lose the stronger grip on reality that we get from the full use of our hands? If our children should get more than "aught" meaning goose egg, nada, naught, nil, nix, nothing, null, zero, zilch, zip, zippo, let them develop their full capacities to grasp reality, by doing real things.
I've been at work on my new book based on the contents of this blog, developed over quite a number of years. With a goal of no more than 60,000 words, I'm over one third complete at this point. We are having A+ Schools staff training today, preparing for Clear Spring School to become a full-fledged member of the organization bringing arts integration into American education.
These are not normal times. Our nation is in a serious crisis.
Make, fix, create, and get a grip....
No comments:
Post a Comment