My Mission Statement

I write to serve, to unite, to educate. I write to share literature and flesh out ideas that may be of interest to others. I write to document an emotion, experience, or a blip in time. My mission is to write in such a way that the reader is reminded that we can find humor in all situations. It's one of the great blessings of life.


Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Creativity Expert

Okay, I'd like to direct your attention to the left side of the screen. Do you see Fred Morrison the inventor of the Frisbee? Look at little more closely at the picture. Can you see what he's wearing? Some kind of space suit complete with glass/plastic globe helmet (?) with an antennae on top. Perhaps that is his creativity radar. This picture ran in the paper yesterday because, sadly, ol' Mr. Morrison just died (at 90, so pretty good ticket). But I'm completely intrigued by the picture. I asked a few people what they thought of the picture, and here's what they said.

My 6YO- I think he took a trip to Outer Space and that's where he got the idea for the frisbee. Maybe all the kids in Outer Space play with frisbees except they call them wacka wackas or something.

My 13YO- What a freak!
My 12YO- Nice hat.
My 9 YO- Oh, he died. So no more inventions from him?
Random adult friend- Uh, okay. Did he asphyxiate?
Another random adult friend- Why are you showing me this again? Is that a real picture? Are you going to write about what I say?
Writer friend- Cool outfit. I wonder if that's his thinking cap.

So it made me think about these super creative people in our world and how they really do contribute to our society. Perhaps the Frisbee is not a great example of a life-changing invention, but you would only have to think about ten seconds to come up with some life-changing inventions. So why are we, as a society, so quick to judge, and ridicule and laugh at a picture like that? Okay, it looks, um, wierd. But so what? Why do we all have to look the same? AND does looking the same mean you're NOT creative?

I'll admit. I dress pretty average. I wear regular jeans, regular sweaters, regular jewelry, no creativity, really for me. I admire it, though, and I'd love to be more outwardly creative, but honestly, it's not a priority. However, when I go to writing conferences, I feel the need to be more creative in my appearance. (If only I'd had Mr. Morrison's get-up at Chautauqua...) It's funny because the illustrators are awesome. They have colored hair, piercings, and the coolest clothes ever. They guys are either very creatively metrosexual or completely hot and wearing torn things with paint smudges on them. (I can't even tell you what that does for me)

So here's the thing, chicken or egg, do people dress cool like that because they are more creative in every avenue of their lives? OR does thinking outside the box in every avenue of your life make you more creative? IF I dared to dress a little less, say, predictable, would it actually free me up to be more creative? Would be EXPECT me to be more creative if I dressed the part, then the self-fulfilling prophesy would kick in? I'm really wondering about this.

This time of year, I think a LOT about creativity and pushing, pushing, pushing my Odyssey of the Mind team to be more and more creative. As a result, my writing is better and my creative process seems to be always on go. So couldn't the whole world benefit from such a push? And if so, shouldn't be value creativity more? The kind of hands-on spontaneous problems my kids work on (like build the tallest free-standing structure you can in four minutes with 24 inches of tape and a Sunday paper) would benefit anyone but especially adults. When is the last time your job demanded creativity on that level? Maybe every day which means, couldn't you and your business benefit from growing that creativity? Just a thought.

Maybe I'll start a business, bringing OM concepts into the more boring, tired workplaces. Like accounting firms. Lord knows I want them to get creative when they're doing my taxes, ha ha. Have a great day, and do something creative!!

1 comment:

Dorothy said...

You're so right about pushing creativity. In fact, an article based on your OM experience and some of the kids' creative constructions might be interesting to lots of adults, not merely parents.

Secondly, a part of my mind remembers that picture of Morrison being in the paper, but the other part can't remember the story, but there was a rational reason he did it. Of course!


Isabel by Donna Jones Koppelman

Isabel by Donna Jones Koppelman

Major Bear at the Grove Park Inn by Donna Jones Koppelman

Major Bear at the Grove Park Inn by Donna Jones Koppelman