Brainiac
by Bethany Maines
I was staring at an app advertisement on my phone the other
day when a brilliant idea for a novel came to me. I’m not going to tell you what it is, because it’s awesome
and I don’t want the net gremlins to steal it. But as I pondered the awesomeness that was my own idea, and
then shining beacon of sheer stunning gloriferousness that is my brain (Yeah, I just made that word up. What are you going to do about it?), it
occurred to me to wonder – what would happen to me if I didn’t have my brain?
day when a brilliant idea for a novel came to me. I’m not going to tell you what it is, because it’s awesome
and I don’t want the net gremlins to steal it. But as I pondered the awesomeness that was my own idea, and
then shining beacon of sheer stunning gloriferousness that is my brain (Yeah, I just made that word up. What are you going to do about it?), it
occurred to me to wonder – what would happen to me if I didn’t have my brain?
And ok, yeah, obviously, dead. Plop. But what about if I had someone else’s
brain? We all look at the world
from the unique transponder of our brains. We see the world differently, if
only by a hair, than the person sitting next to us.
brain? We all look at the world
from the unique transponder of our brains. We see the world differently, if
only by a hair, than the person sitting next to us.
For example, I have a friend who is somewhere around seven
feet tall. That’s not an
exaggeration, that’s his actual height.
We met in college and we had several classes, including life drawing,
together. (Life drawing, for those who haven’t been to art school, is code for
“drawing naked people.”) For one
semester our life drawing instructor was a curly haired, 5’2” dreamer who once
suggested that zoning out while driving on the freeway was a good place to get
creative ideas. (We don’t have
time to really go into that statement.)
Anyway, at some point, she went around to my friend’s drawing board and
suggested that his perspective was wrong.
He checked, he double checked, he thought about it, and then politely
suggested that he really did have it right. She stared up at him, she stared at the model. Then she drug a chair over next to him
and climbed up on it. “Oh, nope,
you’re right.” Your perspective is just different when you’re an extra two feet
up in the air.
feet tall. That’s not an
exaggeration, that’s his actual height.
We met in college and we had several classes, including life drawing,
together. (Life drawing, for those who haven’t been to art school, is code for
“drawing naked people.”) For one
semester our life drawing instructor was a curly haired, 5’2” dreamer who once
suggested that zoning out while driving on the freeway was a good place to get
creative ideas. (We don’t have
time to really go into that statement.)
Anyway, at some point, she went around to my friend’s drawing board and
suggested that his perspective was wrong.
He checked, he double checked, he thought about it, and then politely
suggested that he really did have it right. She stared up at him, she stared at the model. Then she drug a chair over next to him
and climbed up on it. “Oh, nope,
you’re right.” Your perspective is just different when you’re an extra two feet
up in the air.
Two feet and an entire picture changes. If I had someone else’s
brain, surely the ideas I have for writing books would be totally
different. If I had them at
all. But since I love my ideas, I
love my brain, I don’t think I’ll be heading to Dr. Frankenstein’s lab to test
out that experiment. But go ahead
and thank your brain today, because it’s awesome.
brain, surely the ideas I have for writing books would be totally
different. If I had them at
all. But since I love my ideas, I
love my brain, I don’t think I’ll be heading to Dr. Frankenstein’s lab to test
out that experiment. But go ahead
and thank your brain today, because it’s awesome.
Bethany Maines is the author of the Carrie Mae Mystery series and Tales from the City of Destiny. You can also view the Carrie Mae video or catch up with her on Twitter and Facebook.
I think about this from time to time….At 5'10" I am keenly aware that my view of things would be way different if I were the size of a few of my friends, at 5'2"…or my maternal grandmother at 4'10"…..the world would look so very different and thus SEEM so different. Great post, Bethany!