The BubbleMaker.

It was a dreary Monday evening and a sudden, heavy drizzle was threatening to turn into a heavy downpour. There I was, unarmed and outside my child’s music teacher’s apartment block, cold and sheltering under the porch, waiting for the class to end. Meanwhile, a boy aged about ten to eleven years darted out onto the porch in front of the block, stopping with a skip and a hop. As I watched, he brought out a bubble blower with a flourish and starting enjoying himself, blowing bubbles into the rain. If only I could paint, I would have probably frozen that vivid picture of the child against the rain, the light and colourful bubbles against the heavy raindrops and the absolutely unadulterated joy on the child’s face, all in the form of a watercolour. But alas, I had to make do with my mind’s eye.

My heart sank further as the pitter-patter of the rain and the bellowing of the wind progressed steadily onto the next level. Meanwhile, the performance of joy unfolding on the porch-stage also progressed onto its next act, sort of serendipitously. The child suddenly sensed the wind blowing into his face from a specific direction. He just followed the wind and thrust himself against it and before I could bat an eyelid, he stopped blowing bubbles and thrust the blower out in front of his face, in the direction of the wind. And it was the wind’s turn to blow bubbles now. The bubbles now formed at a furious pace and hit the child’s face equally furiously, smearing his face with the soap suds. The child immediately instinctively tried ducking the bubbles. Then, all of a sudden with a sweep of his arm, he dipped the blower into the bubble mix and with a flick of his hand, raised his hand high, in front of his face. The bubbles now came fast and furious right over his head. As if to maximize his joy or double his return on investment, he started picking up the bubbles again onto his blower and recycling the bubbles. Are we as adults, ever inclined to recycling, so intuitively and effortlessly? Do we ever consider multiplying our joys by recycling our own positive experiences? Are we as proactive as this child in conserving energy and latching on to viable alternatives, even when the going is good? Are we as nimble-footed in responding to change – in harnessing it to our advantage?

As the rain settled into a light drizzle, this boy was no longer content with this outsourced bubble-blowing. He then proceeded to more creative bubble-making. This time around he started throwing bubbles into the air, just like a long arm bowler bowls his balls. Even at this stage, he continued with his recycling. And when the soap solution was exhausted, the child returned home, happy, glowing, content and renewed but not exhausted.

As I stood there in the wings, I was no longer cold - this performance had more then warmed the cockles of my heart. But, I could not help but feel pity for ourselves, for our lack of creativity in our everyday lives. If as children we were blessed with it in abundance, I wonder where and how we lost it. Is our education at fault here or are we to blame ourselves for this?