“Winners don’t do different things, they
do things differently” is a quote often heard by us. In the rat race of life we
are often asked to be different, to be noticed, to stand out! But, is winning this race really that
important? Can’t we have a nice relaxed life with our family or is it necessary
to beat everybody to get to the top? Had Nicolaus Copernicus kept quiet about his
theory that the Earth was not the centre of the universe would he have hit our
history and science book and added a little more to the vast subjects? In
India, most of the time, once a child is born the option provided is engineer
or doctor. Parents want you to have a
safe career with regular employment, get married at the age which society thinks
is appropriate and follow the social norms of life. What about those who wish
to do something different? Often talent is suppressed, because, being different
is not always appreciated. Wanting to grow up and become a farmer or an actor
is unheard of! In the older times those whose thoughts differed from common
cultural or traditional beliefs were branded heretics. But, now it has been
proved what had seemed ridiculous in those times may actually be true!
Art is defined as the expression or application of human creative skill and
imagination, typically in a visual form or work produced using skill or
imagination. While we can learn different skills and techniques while following
others it is necessary to use our imagination to create something unique. Artwork
can tell stories or depict ideas. It can be realistic or abstract. However, for
some people, the most important issue in art is that it expresses or stirs emotions. Art can be a record of what the artist is
feeling and, at the same time, it can bring about emotional reactions in the
viewer. Though making copies of artwork is a talent by itself, it is important
to bring out our individual ideas to create something which displays our
emotions, feeling or even part of our character!
Science is defined as the intellectual and practical activity encompassing the
systematic study of the structure and behaviour of the physical and natural
world through observation and experiment. Every human is a scientist. This also
includes those who don’t study science as a part of their education or work. We
are curious about many subjects. This curiosity leads us to research and
experiment about our chosen topic. There is science everywhere is our lives. It
is having the interest to find out more than what we are told that makes us
scientists. Being scientists we should
never take what we are told for granted. We should have the thirst for knowledge.
The thirst to know whether what we have been told is indeed true or whether the
knowledge we have gained is incomplete. Though most us of us take what is told
to us for granted, it is our research that makes gaining this knowledge more
enjoyable!
Albert Einstein once said
that art and science are the branches of the same tree. This is indeed true. Art educates
people to be creative. A lack of creativity is a handicap for science. Science
creates new patterns of thought. Resistance to new patterns is a handicap for
art. It is only recently that these two have been separated, leading us to
believe them as separate entities.
It is observed that great artists such
as Da Vinci were great scientist as well. Da Vinci famous for the Mona Lisa
also conceived ideas vastly ahead of his own time, conceptually inventing a
helicopter, a tank, the use of concentrated solar power, a calculator and a
rudimentary theory of plate tectonics. Major scientific revolutions have
usually coincided with major artistic periods. Today science is evolution, not
revolution, perhaps because it has been decoupled from the arts.
Changes in both subjects demand changes
in our vision. It demands that we look beyond the known what we are aware of.
It demands that we break convention. It demands that we explore not only the
information around us but also the information we already know to find the
connection which leads to discovery of new ideas.
Socrates was sentenced to death by
drinking hemlock but for what? Encouraging young minds to ask questions and not
accept what they are told. The picture
of Campbell’s soup can topped the list of top ten pieces of art while Mona Lisa
didn’t make it to the top ten! Shocking? Well that just depends on your
perception of art! Would you be able to relate more to the can of soup countless
people eat from everyday or a mysterious lady smiling at you?
Had we not broken away from convention
we would all be rather ordinary. We are
all taught the same thing in school. This information alters itself as we
process it. By the time this information is presented during out examinations,
everybody has added their own personal meaning to the piece of knowledge.
Breaking away from convention allows us to make discoveries and interpret
knowledge in our own way. In poetry, most of us interpret the colour blue as
signs of depression or sadness. A student who sees things differently may not
understand why he is taught that blue indicates a negative feeling when he
relates blue to maybe bright blue skies! Thinking differently allows us to come
up with new ideas and executing them. We don’t remember those who make our
textbooks but we remember our favourite authors. Lines written by Roald Dahl or
Charles Dickens speak to you. You are able to relate Miss Honey to the teachers
who encourage you and there is a Scrooge in everybody’s Christmas! Our textbooks
are not as appealing to us. We rather explore and find out things than just
merely accept what is told to us by its pages.
What is being said is not that our
textbooks are boring. It is an essential part of our life and provides us with
a lot of knowledge we require. But, as we all follow convention and go to
school do we really learn more than those who are homeschooled? Would you
rather try to understand what our textbook says or go to a lab and find out yourself?
When a teacher decides to take us out for a field trip to teach us a lesson, we
remember much more! So next time you’re solving a problem, try and find a
different method to solve it! You might just find a shortcut and teach your
friends something new!
Hence, in conclusion we can say that
while we cannot forgo the knowledge we have gained by following the accustomed
conventions, it is necessary to question these convention and explore ideas
which strike our interest to discover new things. We cannot disregard
conventional directions to achieve a goal, but, it isn’t wrong to take a
journey to find our own unique path to reach the destination. Sharing this
journey with companions only makes our experience more enjoyable and in the
process we test our skills, express our emotions and relieve our frustrations
while discovering something new!
