I'M A STRANGER. I walked around the Meadow Glen Mall today. I rode my bike there, locked it up, and walked into a strange world. Everyone walking along looking at things that they don't need, eating when they aren't hungry. I browsed the science and history books at WaldenBooks... totally untouched. Most people were looking at the magazines and the World Wrestling Entertainment books. I entered Radio Shack and headed straight for the electronic components section while eveyone else was looking at the mobile phones and shiny LCD TVs. I picked up an "electronics exploration" kit, intended for kids. The customer to my left was asking about a "splitter". He wanted to turn one cable wire into two TV outlets. His child was staring at an LCD display, unblinking, mouth open. I don't think his house needs more TV. If this keeps up, almost any science kits intended for kids will be a waste of time.

I remember a chemistry set that I had as a kid. I made some neat reactions, asked my Dad to take me to the weird and scary abandoned buildings at Tufts Vet School, a former "State Hospital" for the mentally ill. Walls of beakers and flasks with an inch of dust on them, chipping lead paint covered the floors. It was cold and silent. Rooms with 25 enormous bathtubs in a five-by-five array, intended for "immersion therapy" of inmates. Restraints hanging on the walls. Animals flitting about in the corners. I had goosebumps and a rush of energy at the same time. No LCD screen gave it to me, and my Dad didn't try to find one that could. I had a genuine experience.

As I rode on the bike path outside of Davis Square this morning I overheard a mother telling her SCREAMING 3-year-old that no, he couldnt walk in the puddle because he didn't have his boots on. "AAAAAAAAAAA I WANNA WALK IN THE PUDDLE AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!" Why not? What could happen? I think I might have let a child of mine walk in the puddle, get dirty, have an experience, learn from it. Who knows, maybe the kid finds out that he loves walking in the water. Is that a bad thing? Sure, you have to wash the clothes, but they were going to get dirty anyway.

Children have such a great understanding of what it means to explore. They don't get uncomfortable as easily as we do as adults. As adults we camp and hike and call it a vacation, and we relish the shower and the comfortable chair at the end of the trip. "Think of how good your slippers will feel after this hike is over." Why? Why not enjoy the experience I'm having right now? Why endure suffering for a future pleasant slipper experience? I'd rather try to get myself back to that child-like level where every adventure is new and all the puddles get stepped in. If my feet hurt, I sit down. If I get cold, I warm myself up. If I'm tired, I sleep. Wouldn't that be something? Having an ongoing conversation with yourself and not feeling like you lost at the end? I'm not sure I'll ever feel like that, but I'll keep working toward it.