An Idle Mind...
The old folks used to have a saying, "an idle mind is the devil's workshop!" I heard that phrase quite often as a child. I had no idea what it meant nor was I aware that I was the living breathing Poster Child for the phrase.
As far back as I can remember, I have always had an analytical/scientific brain. I always wanted to know how things worked. My siblings and my parents didn't quite understand they thought that I was just being destructive when I took their toys and radios apart. It wasn't destruction it was curiosity. I do remember one (or more) occasion(s), however when my curiosity actually had some destructive side effects.
The most memorable event took place one summer. I believe I was only 8 years old. I don't remember the reason but I was restricted to my room which happened to be in the basement. After a few moments of nothing to do I began to look around for something to entertain me. I still am not sure how I came up with the idea, but I noticed that there was a light socket that was missing a bulb, and then that scientific brain of mine went to work.
I found myself wondering what would happen if I stuck something in the light socket and pulled the chain on the light socket. I began looking around for something long enough to reach up to the light. Conveniently in an area where my dad kept his tools I found a piece of wire screen. I took the screen and rolled it up like a long stick. The I found a chair to stand on so I could reach the light socket.
I carefully stuck the screen into the socket and slowly pulled the chain and POOF! there was a bright shower of white sparks. It was like a mini-fireworks show. After a quick check to make sure everything was still in tact on me, I inserted the screen again and pulled the chain and again the bright white sparks. Convinced that I couldn't get hurt I had the bright idea to pull the switch really fast to create an uninterrupted light show.
My calculations were correct, by continually pushing up on the screen and rapidly pulling the chain switch I was creating a non-stop flow of beautiful white sparks. I was so caught in the display that I didn't notice that my piece of screen was getting shorter and shorter with each click. I was also to preoccupied to notice the smoke that was starting to build up and make it's way upstairs to my mother.
All I was concentrating on was the sparks. Click...Poof, Click...Poof, Click...Poof and that's when it happened. I went to push the screen in and pulled the switch...expectantly waiting to see those lovely white sparks. This time instead of white sparks everything went black! I hadn't noticed that there was only a small bit of screen in my hand and that I had actually inserted my thumb into the socket. When I pulled that switch I received a totally different kind of show.
Before I knew what happened the electricity ripped through my arm and made it's way through the rest of my small frame. I was sure that I was about to die, and I probably would have if my violent shaking had not knocked the wobbly chair from underneath my feet.
By then my mother had noticed the smell of the smoke and the flickering lights and had come to investigate. She arrived just as I was falling to the ground. She quickly picked me up and made sure that I was okay. Once she saw that I didn't have any major injuries and that I was going to live....she promptly beat the living daylights out of me.
Needless to say I never did that again. It's incidents like that which have me convinced that kids need something to do or something to occupy their time...because an idle mind really is the devil's workshop!
As far back as I can remember, I have always had an analytical/scientific brain. I always wanted to know how things worked. My siblings and my parents didn't quite understand they thought that I was just being destructive when I took their toys and radios apart. It wasn't destruction it was curiosity. I do remember one (or more) occasion(s), however when my curiosity actually had some destructive side effects.
The most memorable event took place one summer. I believe I was only 8 years old. I don't remember the reason but I was restricted to my room which happened to be in the basement. After a few moments of nothing to do I began to look around for something to entertain me. I still am not sure how I came up with the idea, but I noticed that there was a light socket that was missing a bulb, and then that scientific brain of mine went to work.
I found myself wondering what would happen if I stuck something in the light socket and pulled the chain on the light socket. I began looking around for something long enough to reach up to the light. Conveniently in an area where my dad kept his tools I found a piece of wire screen. I took the screen and rolled it up like a long stick. The I found a chair to stand on so I could reach the light socket.
I carefully stuck the screen into the socket and slowly pulled the chain and POOF! there was a bright shower of white sparks. It was like a mini-fireworks show. After a quick check to make sure everything was still in tact on me, I inserted the screen again and pulled the chain and again the bright white sparks. Convinced that I couldn't get hurt I had the bright idea to pull the switch really fast to create an uninterrupted light show.
My calculations were correct, by continually pushing up on the screen and rapidly pulling the chain switch I was creating a non-stop flow of beautiful white sparks. I was so caught in the display that I didn't notice that my piece of screen was getting shorter and shorter with each click. I was also to preoccupied to notice the smoke that was starting to build up and make it's way upstairs to my mother.
All I was concentrating on was the sparks. Click...Poof, Click...Poof, Click...Poof and that's when it happened. I went to push the screen in and pulled the switch...expectantly waiting to see those lovely white sparks. This time instead of white sparks everything went black! I hadn't noticed that there was only a small bit of screen in my hand and that I had actually inserted my thumb into the socket. When I pulled that switch I received a totally different kind of show.
Before I knew what happened the electricity ripped through my arm and made it's way through the rest of my small frame. I was sure that I was about to die, and I probably would have if my violent shaking had not knocked the wobbly chair from underneath my feet.
By then my mother had noticed the smell of the smoke and the flickering lights and had come to investigate. She arrived just as I was falling to the ground. She quickly picked me up and made sure that I was okay. Once she saw that I didn't have any major injuries and that I was going to live....she promptly beat the living daylights out of me.
Needless to say I never did that again. It's incidents like that which have me convinced that kids need something to do or something to occupy their time...because an idle mind really is the devil's workshop!
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